Stress isn’t always caused by one huge upsetting event in your life.  It can come about after an accumulation of small every day, not necessarily negative, events.  For example having the constant pressure of decision making, even for a happy event, can cause feelings of stress for some people.  Our different personalities have quite a bearing on what we are able to cope with.  Other common stressors during wedding prep include trying to lose weight (both the physical stress on the body as well as the mental torture if it’s not done properly!), time pressures, money worries, guest list issues etc. etc.  Stressful events in themselves aren’t a bad thing; we are designed to cope with life’s ups and downs.  Unfortunately, sometimes when the stressors are relentless our bodies just respond in the wrong way and it is this response and the diseases that stem from it that causes the problem.  Making sure the body is well nourished and rested can help to reduce these effects.

We’ve all experienced butterflies in our tummy and that urgent need to rush to the toilet; that is a direct effect of stress hormones, the ones we release when we are feeling nervous, frightened or under pressure.  It’s what we called the fight or flight response and it’s a response to an immediate stressor.  Traditionally this would have been a big grizzly bear eyeing you up for lunch; for us that moment before walking down the aisle will probably cause the same response.  It’s the body’s way of getting ready for action by increasing heart rate, mobilising energy stores, increasing blood pressure and shutting down non-essential functions like digestion.  Now the problem is we’re not going to respond by running away at speed or fighting the vicar or registrar – well I hope not anyway – so all those hormones build in the body.

If the intense stress carries on over the longer term we continue to release the stress hormone cortisol and out body starts using up vital nutrients just to keep going and to produce these hormones.  You might feel like you’re coping but may also experience insomnia, headaches, anxiety.  Your metabolism and normal body functions are disrupted because you’re constantly producing these stress hormones.

Then finally, after a period of time exposed to constant stressors, we might reach the exhaustion stage, where our bodies just can’t produce the stress hormones in the levels needed.  We feel exhausted and may experience depression, low sex drive (certainly not what you want in the build-up to the most romantic day of your life), frequent infections and even changes in your periods and hormone levels.  Everything becomes just too much for the body.

Typically, someone who is stressed, struggling to cope and perhaps not realising it will….

• drink alcohol to relax and send them to sleep, but the sleep isn’t quality sleep
• drink coffee in the morning to get them going after the poor sleep
• have a cigarette to calm nerves after all the caffeine
• eat stodgy comfort food for lunch
• have a bar of chocolate mid-afternoon to get over the 4 o’clock slump
• dodge the gym because they are too tired after work
• reach for the take-away menu because the thought of deciding what to cook is overwhelming and they are starving

All of these things form a vicious cycle giving you a boost of energy followed by a slump, then requiring another boost of energy.  And they make things worse.  They also tend to encourage weight gain, poor mood and dull skin and hair – the exact things you don’t want as a bride!

Now being aware of stressors and the effects they have is the first step in being able to cope better.  And other than trying to reduce the stressors, the next step is trying to strengthen the body to prevent any negative effects. A well-nourished and healthy individual can cope with most things thrown at them!

Blood sugar balance – this is probably the most important thing to think about when trying to cope with stress. The body interprets imbalanced blood sugar levels as a stressor.

When we eat carbohydrates this is digested and absorbed as glucose, a type of sugar.  Now refined carbohydrates like white bread, white pasta and sugar are absorbed very quickly because they don’t take long to digest.  This causes our blood sugar levels to rise very high, very quickly.  The body detects this and releases a hormone called insulin to remove this sugar and put it into storage but it panics because there is so much sugar in the blood and releases too much insulin.  This sends our blood sugar levels plummeting as too much sugar is taken from the blood.  It’s at this stage that we get the shakes, fatigue and cravings for sugar/carbs and other stimulants. So aim keep blood sugar levels stable throughout the day by eating a good mix of complex carbohydrates, protein and good fats.

Avoid stimulants (normal tea, coffee, coke) – these give an instant energy boost but reduce energy levels in the long term. Caffeine elevates the stress hormones cortisol and adrenalin, and over stimulation can lead to irritability and a lack of concentration – the same symptoms as stress!  If you have to have coffee in the morning make sure it’s after breakfast.

Limit alcohol - not only does it interfere with good sleep but it depletes important nutrients like B vitamins required for energy production.  The next morning you’ll feel even more tired.

Regular exercise – cardio work will use up those stress hormones to restore balance in the body.  Stretching and breathing exercises like yoga and Pilates will encourage you to slow down and relax.  Happy hormones will also be released so you are guaranteed to end up feeling happier.

Planning – the absolute key to making good choices during stressful periods is planning. That means making a shopping list, knowing what you will cook each evening, taking a packed lunch and always having the healthiest snacks available.

And finally…..

46% of women over-eat when stressed, compared to 17% of men!

And women are more likely to suffer from stress related conditions than men!

So as you can see it’s even more important for us women to take control when it comes to managing stress!  If you are struggling with stress why not consider visiting a qualified nutritional therapist to help you find a balance through diet, lifestyle and supplements (if necessary)?  If you can support your body you will stay happy and healthy – happy wedding planning!!

Now pass me the camomile tea!

ilovegreens

I recently popped into Jamie Oliver’s Barbecoa Butchery and spent a really interesting hour chatting to a young (23 years old?) butcher about how to cook various cuts of meat and where the meat was sourced from; this guy was passionate about his job and it showed in the way he spoke and shared his knowledge.  He also described the problems they have finding skilled butchers to join the team, with so many coming from supermarkets without understanding even the basics of butchery.  It looks like butchers may be a dying breed and it made me realise how much we’ve got to lose if don’t start choosing more carefully where we buy our produce.

Billericay is lucky enough to have a fantastic butcher on the high street called Masons of Billericay.  They source free range meat from local suppliers and even make their own sausages with 95% meat content.  If you’re going to eat sausages this is the ONLY way to do it!  And free range is a great option if you can’t afford to go organic.  Locally sourced also means you’re supporting the local economy and reducing the carbon foot print of your meat (which is already high).  Robert Mason (the owner) was especially helpful at Christmas when I bought a joint of ham that was too big to fit in the pan! He calmly suggested chopping off the hock to use for soup, and gave me lots of advice about storing the joint until I was ready to cook it.

I popped into the shop today to enquire about their home delivery option and got chatting to the very helpful lady behind the counter (sorry I didn’t get your name!).  She explained the ingredients that are used to make their sausages and how they can pack the meat in a way to suit the way in which you will use it.  I prefer not to freeze my meat, but buy it fresh each week, so she said vacuum packing the meat would be the best option, giving a fridge life of 5-6 days.

As a nutritionist people often assume that I’m anti-meat – this is definitely not the case!  Red meat in particular provides essential nutrients in the form of iron and vitamin B12 and is an excellent source of protein.  Turkey and chicken provide the amino acid tryptophan which is used to create happy hormones in the brain.  And if you combine a mix of healthily cooked meats with the benefits of fresh salads, vegetables, beans and pulses you’ve got the basis for the perfect diet. My only caveat is that you should avoid processed meat and always buy the best quality meat you can afford; even if this means eating less of it (chicken was, until the days of intensive farming, an occasional treat for most people!).  Wouldn’t you rather know that the animal that is providing you with tonight’s dinner ate well, as nature intended and had a reasonably good life before meeting its end?  After all, the motto ‘you are what you eat’ applies to animals too!

So what I’m trying to say is find a local butcher (or baker, fishmonger etc.) ask about suppliers, quality, if they use additives, and gauge what their philosophy is towards food.  If you’re happy with the answers then use them – they will be a great source of quality food and knowledge.  Because if we don’t use them, we’ll lose them (just like Billericay recently lost its fishmonger, Goodspeeds after 74 years) and be faced with the transparent gaze of a disinterested student at the counter!

Ilovegreens J

P.S. If you know of a good food supplier give them a shout in the comments!

90% of our vitamin D is produced by the sun’s action on the skin.  There is a nifty chemical process that occurs in the skin, liver and kidneys that makes most of the vitamin D we need.  You need about 15 minutes in the sun, 3-4 times per week throughout the summer; without sun protection and with your arms, legs and face exposed.  And the sun has to be shining – not hidden behind that big grey cloud that will undoubtedly release its cargo as you make a mad dash for the nearest doorway.  And to top it off in the UK the sun isn’t strong enough to make vitamin D between October and March.  Mother Nature is not very kind to us in the UK when it comes to vitamin D production! There are also a few sources of vitamin D in our diets, primarily from oily fish, liver and eggs and fortified foods such as margarine; but the levels are pretty low.  We need SUNSHINE!!

So why is this vitamin so special?  Well it’s all about what it does in the body.  The list is endless and still growing.  We’ve known for a long time that vitamin D is essential for the uptake of calcium in the body and this is why you often find supplements containing vitamin D and calcium together.  Because of this synergy with calcium, low levels of vitamin D can lead to rickets (soft bones) in children, osteomalacia (soft bones) in adults and osteoporosis (thin and weak bones) in later life.  We’ve know about this action for a long time.

More recently and arguably more exciting, researchers have found that vitamin D has a direct effect on the action of genes across our entire body.  Genes control everything that happens.  And this is why I say vitamin D is actually not a vitamin but a sort of hormone.  This discovery has linked low levels of vitamin D to health issues such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, infections, degenerative diseases, autoimmune conditions such as multiples sclerosis (MS)     and obesity.  This isn’t to say low vitamin D status is the cause of these conditions but it may well be a contributing factor.  Are you starting to see why the sunshine vitamin is my favourite?

So how much vitamin D do we need to prevent deficiency?  Well this is where we find the controversy.  The current recommended nutrient intake (RNI) for vitamin D in the UK is set at 7mcg for the under 5’s, 10mcg for pregnant and breast feeding women, anyone who is over 65 years old and those who remain indoors or extensively covered when outside.  Notice there is a no RNI for the general population.  This is because the UK government think we will get all the vitamin D we need from the sun.  Yeah right!   The U.S and Canadian Governments think we need at least 20mcg of vitamin D as adults.  All of this would be fine if the current research didn’t suggest wide-spread vitamin D deficiency in Europe (WHO 2010) with a deficiency rate of up to 70% (Pérez-López et al 2012).

The solution is pretty simple – supplementation.  However, there is another obstacle in the way.  Because vitamin D is fat soluble there are fears that it may accumulate in the body (stored in fat and the liver) and cause problems with toxicity.  But this opinion is based on outdated science and in fact research has shown no toxicity at levels of 250mcg per day for up to 5 months in adult men.

I recently had my vitamin D status tested using a new finger prick blood test supplied by Pathology Department at City Hospital in Birmingham and was not surprised to find my levels were ‘insufficient’ at 48.3 nmol/L.  This is because I’d chosen not to supplement vitamin D this winter in anticipation of this test. Now as a nutritionist I eat a very healthy, balanced diet and I try to get outside for exercise wherever possible.  But I am stuck inside behind a computer for much of the day, like so many people.  Our lifestyles have changed dramatically in the last 20 years since the advent of the internet and social networking but our bodies haven’t caught up with this indoor lifestyle.  The research shows that vitamin D has wide ranging influence on the body so isn’t it about time we started looking seriously at raising the RNI and encouraging safe and effective supplementation?

ilovegreens

References

Pérez-López FR Brincat M Tamer Erel C Tremollieres F Gambacciani M Lambrinoudaki I Moen MH Schenck-Gustafsson K Vujovic S Rozenberg S Rees M (2012) Vitamin D and postmenopausal health Maturitas 71 (2012) 83– 88

WHO (2012) http://www.euro.who.int/en/what-we-do/health-topics/disease-prevention/nutrition/news/news/2010/11/who-to-map-vitamin-d-deficiency-in-europe

http://www.vitamindtest.org.uk/

The Schools Food Trust says “research suggests that some [childcare providers] are giving young children food which is more appropriate for older children and adults”. They are, of course, referring to high levels of salt and sugar and also a lack of nutrients essential to growth such as iron and zinc.  Whilst this is true, I would argue that this food is not appropriate for anyone, hence the massive increase in diet related health problems (obesity, type-2 diabetes, some cancers).  A healthy, balanced diet is appropriate for everyone and the focus for families, schools and the government should be to promote this across the board.

I recently looked at a nursery menu which, as an example, included baked beans a number of times a week – baked beans are packed full of sugar and salt.  There was also little in the way of wholegrains and good fats and a reliance on dried fruit as snacks.  What also stood out was how little variation there was in the menu throughout the week. These recommendations are a step in the right direction – I just hope everyone involved in childcare makes the effort to adopt them.

If you would like more information and guidance on healthy eating for children and all the family, please drop us a line at info@ilovegreens.co.uk or on 01277 833032

The timing of this launch is excellent as I’m sure you’re all in the midst of horrible depriving diets and detox after the joyous excesses of Christmas?!  So, why not make a late New Year Resolution? Decide that this is the last year you will make January, the most miserable month of the year, even worse by starving yourself and depriving yourself of even the smallest glass of red wine – and aim for lifelong change?

Changing your outlook towards food gradually, and learning more about the effects on your body will help you to change the way you eat long term.   And we’re not talking about cutting everything enjoyable out of your diet – it’s all about following the 80-20 rule and making better choices.

So have a look around the site and if you’ve got any questions, want a bit of advice or just want to see what we can do for you, drop us an email or call on 01277 833032.

Happy Friday!

I Love Greens

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-13670278

If you’re interested in learning more about real bread and finding a good local baker, take a look at this link:

www.realbreadcampaign.org

ilovegreens

I’m not saying that everyone with HBP can avoid the use of drugs through the use of Nutritional Therapy, but some can.  And even those who can’t avoid the use of drugs, perhaps due to a genetic predisposition, can help to support their body to restore balance and reduce side effects and other related health issues.

We need to go back to basics to take control over our own health.  Drugs are lifesavers but they’re not the complete answer.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-12486184?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

ilovegreens

http://www.drbriffa.com/2010/11/22/critique-reveals-major-flaws-in-conventional-nutritional-guidelines/

ilovegreens

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8572874.stm

The lack of nutrition training a doctor receives will no doubt surprise many people, especially when the full impact of poor nutrition can be seen about us every day in the form of increased obesity, cardiovascular disease and diabetes.  And that’s not to mention the increase in allergies often expressed in the form of asthma, eczema and digestive disorders.

I agree that doctors should be better educated in this field, if only to make them more aware of the effects of nutrition on health, but we already have some highly qualified people in the form of registered Nutritional Therapists who are willing and able to help if only the medical profession would give up some of it’s power!

ilovegreens