Ask any woman about the number of diets she has tried in her life and the number will probably be close to, or even in, double figures. Part of the problem is our understanding of the word ‘diet’. Study after study has shown that diets simply don’t work. In fact, they may even increase your chances of weight gain because fad diets are often deficient in nutrients you need for sustained weight loss, so as soon as you eat normally again the weight piles back on.

You want to aim for a way of eating that becomes a way of life, rather than thinking of a ‘diet’. A healthy diet contains all the nutrients you need to burn fat and lose weight. However, in addition to eating a healthy diet there is another vital component for successful weight loss and that is the right mindset.

An increasing number of experts, myself included, are beginning to see that what you believe is just as important as what you eat. In other words, staying slim is in the mind. So, if you are sick of dieting my advice is simple. Stop dieting, start eating healthily, get regular exercise and try the following ‘think thin’ techniques:

1) Visualise yourself as a slim person

Create a picture in your mind of what you will look and feel like when you are at your ideal weight and imagine that vision as often as you can. Tell yourself that you do have the motivation to eat healthily and to exercise every day.

2) Know your hunger

There are a number of different types of hunger, but only a few of them actually need food.

Real hunger: If you haven’t eaten for three to four hours choose a delicious, healthy snack or meal and enjoy. To keep your metabolism (fat burning) high, eating every three to four hours is essential.

Dehydration: If you haven’t drunk enough water or have only drunk tea or coffee during the day you will be dehydrated. Many of us misinterpret dehydration with hunger pangs, but all we really need to do is drink more fluids during the day.

Low blood sugar: If you eat a lot of sugar and refined foods your blood sugar levels will drop and when they drop you will feel tired and in need of a pick me up. This isn’t real hunger though; it is low blood sugar hunger. To avoid this cut down on sugar, refined foods and stimulants like coffee, which also send blood sugar levels soaring and then crashing. Eat fresh whole foods, nuts, seeds, fruits, legumes, and vegetables instead, to steady your blood sugar.

Adjustment hunger: You ate about ten minutes ago but still feel hungry and want to load your plate with seconds or a large dessert. Wait for another ten minutes before eating more as it takes around 20 minutes for your brain to register that you are full and have had enough to eat.

Emotional hunger: Many of us turn to food for comfort when we feel angry, upset or anxious, but food is never the answer. Try to write in a diary or sit through the emotion instead and remind yourself that you always feel worse after a binge.

3) Observe yourself

When you find yourself craving food when you aren’t really hungry remind yourself that you don’t really need food right now, but when you do you can have something nutritious and it will taste great. Separate yourself from your hunger. This will help you see that you are in charge – and not your need for comfort food. Tell yourself that you are not depriving yourself you are simply changing your behaviour to get the body you want. Accept that changing patterns of behaviour isn’t easy but necessary if you want to lose weight.

4) Banish food bans

Don’t cut out any type of food from your diet – if you do that you admit that it has control or authority over you and not you over it. Stop thinking about food in terms of good or bad; there is no such thing as bad food only food that you need to make sure you don’t eat too much of. Besides, the more forbidden a food is, the more likely you are to crave it.

5) Practise real comfort eating

If you feel tired or run down or really want to eat something, give yourself permission to eat as much as you want. Go out and buy the very best and then sit down and eat slowly. Pause after each mouthful and really savour the food. The more you do this, the more you will realise that you are the one in charge, not the food you are eating.

6) Take pride in yourself

Think about all your other life achievements and give yourself a pat on the back. This will help you see that saying that you’re just not disciplined enough to eat healthily simply isn’t true.

7) Keep a sense of balance

Don’t workout in the gym for hours or cut down on calories in an attempt to shift weight. If you do this your body will go into famine mode and your metabolism (fat burning) will slow down making weight gain more likely. If you keep a balance like this you will stop thinking of food as the enemy and the gym as a chore. Instead, you will think of food as something not only to enjoy but as a way to encourage weight loss – because it keeps your metabolism ticking over, and exercise as time out for you to recharge your body and your mind.

8) Boost your eating and exercise self-esteem

Instead of feeling that you will never be able to eat healthily and exercise regularly, tell yourself that you are the kind of person who doesn’t want or need to snack on junk foods. If you do have the odd moment of weakness, lose the guilt and just enjoy. Remember enjoyment is essential for any healthy eating plan.

If you would like to explore whether a consultation with an expert nutritionist at the Glenville Nutrition Clinic could help you, please contact us on 01892 515 905 or send us an email at reception@glenvillenutrition.com

Many of the women who are helped in the Glenville Nutrition Clinic who are in their thirties or forties are concerned about changes in their menstrual cycle. The most common worry is that the timing of bleeding is different or their cycle is a week earlier or later. ‘I’m usually regular,’ they tell me. ‘This isn’t what I’m usually like.’ ‘What’s going on?’ Others want to know if their irregularity is a sign of impending menopause.

Although the hormonal changes that signal the beginning of menopause can cause cycle changes, such as skipping a period one month followed by a real drencher the next, it is important to understand that many other things can cause the timing of your periods to change and these include stress, travel, job change, moving house, over exercise and poor eating habits.

Although diet and lifestyle changes can trigger menstrual irregularities there is no getting away from the fact that the journey into the menopause is typically accompanied by menstrual changes and these are perfectly normal and natural changes are most likely to occur in your late 30s and forties. But how can you tell if your cycle changes are diet and lifestyle related or menopause related?

The answer is to follow the diet and lifestyle advice below which is all designed to help regularise your periods. If this still doesn’t help, listen to your body and keep a note of your bleeding and symptoms that occur during your cycle. This will help you distinguish the normal irregularities of the menopause from really unnatural symptoms, such as hair loss, acne, facial hair and fatigue that require attention or treatment. And if you are concerned in any way consult your doctor immediately because irregular or absent periods are also a symptom of very common hormonal imbalances in women, such as thyroid disorders and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). 

Heavy bleeding (menorrhagia) is one irregularity that is typical among peri-menopausal and menopausal women. Flooding is a response to changing hormonal levels.  Excessive bleeding may, however, be linked to other medical conditions such as fibroids so once again it is wise to consult your doctor if a period lasts more than twice as long as it ever did or if there is a persistent low back/pelvic pain.

If underlying medical issues have been ruled out you need to understand that your cycle will change as you age. Many of us think that our bodies will stay the same forever, but it is perfectly normal for periods to change in women over the age of thirty. So, although irregular periods in your 30s and 40s can’t always be controlled, following the diet and lifestyle recommendations below will encourage regularity and ensure you aren’t making things worse for yourself than they need to be.

Pay attention to the signs and plan ahead

Your body often gives you signals when a period is due. You may feel breast tenderness or bloating so learn to listen to your body. It also helps to plan ahead by having pads or tampons stored in your bag, car or office in case of emergencies.

Eat a hormone balancing diet

A healthy diet rich in whole grains, fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, seeds and oily fish will give your body good amounts of the nutrients it needs to balance your hormones and encourage regularity. Most important of all a healthy diet will ensure that your blood sugar levels are balanced. Blood sugar imbalances often trigger hormonal imbalances, which in turn trigger irregular periods.

Take a multivitamin and mineral

As much of the food we eat today has had the vitamins and minerals processed away, a good quality daily multivitamin and mineral that includes B vitamins, zinc, vitamin C, beta carotene, selenium, calcium, magnesium, chromium and vitamin E will be a good insurance policy to make sure your body isn’t deficient in the essential vitamins and minerals it needs for a healthy menstrual cycle.

Get your Omega 3s

Make sure you eat plenty of nuts, seeds and oily fish to ensure you are getting enough omega 3 essential fatty acids.  Omega 3 fats are important for hormone balance and menstrual cycle regularity. Aim for a fish oil containing 770mg EPA and 510mg DHA.

Maintain a healthy body weight

Managing your weight is important as studies have shown that women who are underweight or overweight tend to have irregular cycles. When you lose too much weight your reproductive cycle often shuts down. Experts believe this is simply nature’s way of stopping you getting pregnant when your body doesn’t have the fat reserves to support a pregnancy and breastfeeding. And the same is true for if you gain too much weight. Excess body fat increases oestrogen production and this can trigger irregular periods. 

Watch your stress levels

Stress is a well-known inhibitor of periods. Many women find that they skip a period when they move house, travel or change job. If your life is stressful make sure you take time out every day to relax and unwind or simply daydream.

Exercise, but don’t over do it.

Regular, moderate exercise for at least 30 minutes a day can help balance your hormones and encourage regularity. The key word here though is moderate as exercising too long or too hard can make periods stop or become irregular.

Important nutrients

Foods rich in phytoestrogens, such as legumes and flaxseeds can help ease heavy bleeding because they can help to balance your hormones and keep oestrogen under control and prevent excessive build-up of the lining of the womb. Foods rich in vitamin A, B, C and zinc, such as wholegrains, fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds, are also important for heavy bleeding but it is especially important to make sure you are getting enough iron. Ask your doctor to confirm whether or not you are anaemic. Omega 3 essential fatty acids can also be an important way to control heavy bleeding so include an omega 3 supplement if you do not eat much oily fish.

If you would like to explore whether a consultation with an expert nutritionist at the Glenville Nutrition Clinic could help you, please contact us on 01892 515 905 or send us an email at reception@glenvillenutrition.com

As the cost of living crisis is affecting everyone it is important to know how to still eat healthily on a budget.  The key to planning and creating healthy meals on a limited budget is good forward planning. The following tips will help you see that healthy eating doesn’t have to be expensive. Here’s how to eat healthily on a budget:

1) Always do a shopping list: It’s dangerous to go food shopping without a shopping list in hand. Shopping without a sense of what you need – and don’t need – opens you up to all manner of temptation, and most of those tempting foods are not nutritious. In addition, picking up all those extra items can easily blow your food budget and leave you without the funds to plan those healthy, nutritious meals. A good trick is to keep a note pad near the kitchen table or fridge. Having the notepad within easy reach makes it easy to keep track of the foods you need to stock up on.

2) Never shop when you’re hungry: The old advice to never shop when you are hungry is definitely true. Shopping when you’re hungry is a sure way to give into temptation, bust the food budget, and stock up on all the wrong foods.

3) Replace meat with pulses: Eating less meat and more beans and lentils is a good way to save money on your food budget, while still getting the protein you and your family need and cutting down on the saturated fat you and your family don’t need. Try experimenting with some vegetarian recipes for interesting ways to use these non-meat alternatives.

4) Stock up on staples: One trick is to keep the fridge and the pantry well stocked with staple foods. Essential staple foods, such as brown rice, and pasta, are frequently put on sale at major groceries. Stocking up on these essentials when prices are low is a great way to stretch any food budget. Keeping a good supply of staples on hand will avoid unnecessary trips to the shops and also avoid the need to buy such products when they are not on sale.

5) Stock up on fruits and veggies: Fruit and vegetables (excluding exotic/imported ones) are surprisingly cheap. An average banana costs 50p (less than most bars of chocolate/crisps from the vending machine) and provides more in the way of nourishment for fewer calories. Choose fresh fruit and vegetables that are in season, not only are they cheaper they will also be most flavoursome and at their best; but don’t limit yourself to that as you don’t want to end up eating a restricted diet. Farmer’s markets also tend to be cheaper than supermarkets.

6) Cruise the frozen food aisle: When it comes to fruit and vegetables one way to get your five a day and to save the pennies is to buy frozen versions. In fact, in some cases, buying frozen fruits and vegetables may be a more nutritionally sound option as foods such as peas, sweetcorn and broccoli are typically frozen within a few hours of picking, which preserves the vitamin C and B vitamins – so they may have even more than fresh versions.

7) Not everything that is canned is bad for you: That’s right! Not all canned foods are bad. As long as you make sure there is no added sugar, additives and preservatives. Tomatoes may also have a higher nutritional value when canned as the canning process, which heats contents to a higher temperature, makes certain nutrients (such as heart-protecting lycopene – red pigment in tomatoes) easier for your body to absorb. You can also get beans like organic kidney beans in cans. 

8) Don’t forget to treat yourself: Even if you are counting the pennies you still need to treat yourself once in a while. Food is an easy way to comfort yourself, but you don’t need to go for unhealthy options like a bar of chocolate or packet of crisps. Grill a banana and pour some real maple syrup over it or bake an eating apple stuffed with raisins and walnuts. And instead of expensive coffees from coffee chains treat yourself to the flavonoid nutrients in tea, which protect your heart and also help you feel relaxed and comforted.

If you would like to explore whether a consultation with an expert nutritionist at the Glenville Nutrition Clinic could help you, please contact us on 01892 515 905 or send us an email at reception@glenvillenutrition.com