Meal Planning

With so many of us working long hours, running busy households and having a hundred-and-one errands to run, it can be really hard to plan the week's meals and make sure we take enough time to prepare and enjoy our food. It's all to easy to grab a supermarket sandwich on the go or a quick snack from the coffee shop; on occasion this is absolutely fine, but if you find yourself eating convenience foods several times a week it may be time to start planning your meals and snacks. With half an hour set aside for planning, once a week, you can make sure you'll be getting the nutrients and energy you need without reaching for unhealthy energy fixes or expensive takeaways.

Plan before you shop
To save waste - as well as money - plan the week's meals and snacks before you hit the supermarket. This way you'll know exactly what you're buying and not be tempted by offers or the biscuit aisle. If you buy your groceries online (which I personally find really useful as I never know from one week to the next which days I'll be working from home or with clients), most supermarkets allow you to save a shopping list or list of favourites, which you can add to your online shopping basket each week at the click of a button. If you prefer to shop in the supermarket, it can be handy to write a list of staples that you simply add to each week.

Create a list of favourite quick and easy meals
This could be nutrient-rich sandwich fillings, wholesome one-pot evening meals, or nutritious snacks to keep around the house or in your bag while you're on the go. As you build up your list over time, you'll only have to scan through and pick out enough meals and snacks for the week without racking your brains for ideas. If you live alone or tend to cook for just yourself, consider including brown rice, pulses and grains in each evening meal so that you can cook extra portions which can be mixed with chopped veggies, herbs and salad to create a tasty, nutritious lunch the next day. Alternatively, whether you cook for one or the whole family, consider making stews, soups, casseroles and bolognaise which you can cook in bulk and freeze for those days when you don't have time or energy to cook.

Always carry healthy snacks
I always recommend carrying healthy snacks in your bag for those moments when you need an urgent energy boost. These could be dried or fresh fruit and unsalted nuts, oatcakes, or bars such as Nakd's natural fruit and nut bars. If you work in an office you could keep some cottage cheese or hummus in the fridge to nibble with sticks of carrot and pepper or to spread on rice cakes or oatcakes. It's so important that you respond to your body's hunger and that you do so in a way that nourishes your body rather than triggering a blood sugar spike that will leave you lethargic and headachey within a couple of hours. Avoid chocolate, biscuits, cake or white flour-based products as these will cause one of these blood sugar spikes. Instead balance your snacks with protein and complex carbohydrates and fibre. If you're meeting a friend for coffee and you fancy a slice of cake, share a slice and balance it with some protein such as a small handful of almonds or a few Brazil nuts as this will slow down the release of sugars into your bloodstream.  

Plan around busy times or barriers
Whether it's a family gathering that'll leave you faced with an array of potentially unhealthy foods or large portions, or a long, busy day at work, consider any barriers you may face during the week and try to plan around them. You have the power to dictate your own portion sizes so if you're presented with a large plate of food, eat slowly and mindfully and listen to your body telling you you're full. If you know you're going to be out of the house for long periods of time, make sure you take plenty of healthy snacks and a packed lunch so that you don't need to pick up convenience foods. Also make sure you have a couple of healthy homemade meals in the freezer that you've cooked in advance so you can pop one in the oven or microwave and not have to worry about cooking a nutritious meal from scratch at the end of a long day. If you're going away for a weekend or will be on holiday for the week, it can be hard to know what food will be available but as long as your mindful of carrying healthy nibbles with you when and where you can, and you watch your portion sizes, a few treats and meals out won't cause any harm.

Sometimes we face events that we cannot plan for, and in these times it is ok to 'slip up' and eat what's available to keep your energy up. Just try to base your meals and snacks around a healthy balance of protein, complex carbohydrates and fibre and add as much fresh produce as possible.

The Benefits of Calcium

We all know that calcium is important for strong bones, but its uses and importance goes much further than this. Calcium is a micro-mineral, or trace element, essential for repairing bones and teeth, giving them strength and rigidity. This is a continual process, although the rebuilding of teeth is a much slower one.


What Does Calcium Do?

Calcium travels through the blood, stopping at sites where blood clotting and muscle contraction needs to take place as well as at nerves where impulses are transmitting. Without this micro-mineral our blood would not clot, our muscles would not contract efficiently and ineffective nerve functioning would mean our body just wouldn't function properly, cells wouldn't be able to communicate and pain perception would be altered.


What Are The Benefits of Calcium?

• It is vital for people suffering from chronic kidney disease (CKD)
• CKD causes an imbalance of calcium and phosphorus, causing bones to lose calcium and weaken.
• CKD can result in calcium travelling to areas of the body where it is not required causing stiffening and narrowing of the blood vessels which may lead to a heart attack or stroke.

• It prevents cancer
• When calcium is present in the epidermis (the outermost layer of skin), we are able to tan which is a protective mechanism against the sun's harmful UV rays, reducing the chances of developing skin cancer.
• Calcium in the skin also contains antioxidants which fight precancerous cells. 

• It helps to control the body's acid/alkaline (pH) balance
• Especially when supplemented in calcium citrate form (because it is more easily assimilated).
• An imbalanced pH can cause an array of problems including heart damage, weight gain, bladder conditions, kidney stones, immune deficiency, premature ageing...and many more.

• It improves your skin
• Most calcium in the skin is found in the outermost layer (the epidermis); it regulates the rate at which new skin cells are produced and old ones are removed, resulting in fresh, dewy, youthful looking skin.
• Calcium also produces a sebum which allows the skin to retain its moisture, preventing irritation and eczema.
• A lack of calcium will result in thin, dry, papery skin.

• It reduces muscle cramps 
• It's an ideal supplement for those who suffer with premenstrual cramps or cramps during exercising.
• If you are deficient in calcium and therefore suffering from muscle cramps, your bones will start to leak calcium to make up for that which is lacking in the muscles. This will lead to weak and fragile bones and increased risk of fractures and osteoporosis. 

Crash Diets, Meal Skipping and Starvation: Why They Don't Work

In today’s society there is a lot of pressure to be thin. Thinness is associated with success and beauty, and some people go to extreme lengths to achieve this ‘ideal’ body type. However crash dieting, severe calorie restriction and meal skipping do not contribute to permanent weight control and can be dangerous.

When you starve your body – and this doesn’t just mean not eating altogether, it could be cutting out food groups or skipping meals – it enters crisis mode and does everything it can to survive. When calories drop to below your body’s basic requirements, it perceives danger in the form of starvation and its survival mechanisms kick in. Firstly your metabolism will slow down as your body tries to preserve energy until the famine is over; fat stores will remain and only emergency energy supplies will be used to perform bodily functions. This emergency energy comes in the form of glycogen, a necessary molecule produced as a result of excess glucose (sugar), which is stored primarily in your liver and muscle tissues and then as fat. Glycogen is linked to four times its weight in water, so every time your body uses glycogen for energy you will lose fluid and muscle tissue. If you’ve heard people talking about miracle diets in which they’ve lost 10lb in a week, what they’ve actually done is put their body through stress by severely restricting calories and therefore triggering danger signals within their body, causing it to utilise stored energy and lose weight in fluid and muscle mass – they have not lost much, if any, fat at all.

As your metabolism slows down your body will work below its optimum level in an attempt to save energy. You will find yourself suffering from mood swings, tiredness, insomnia, irritability and sluggish digestion because your body is focusing on keeping your heart beating and your lungs expanding and contracting: its sole aim is to keep you alive. A slow metabolism will result in the calories that you do consume being stored as energy, in fat or as glycogen, meaning you won’t lose weight, you are actually more likely to gain weight. Therefore it is vital that you eat regularly and don’t skip meals in order to keep your metabolic rate steady so that you keep burning the calories as fuel.

If your body perceives a famine because you’re severely restricting calories or skipping meals altogether, you may find yourself becoming preoccupied with thoughts of food. Cravings for sugary, fatty foods will dominate and before long you could find yourself bingeing on biscuits or eating a whole pizza. This does not reflect a lack of willpower but instead it is a signal from your body that it needs fuel. When our ancestors were hunter-gatherers they would regularly face periods without food and so when food became available they would eat lots of it in order for their body to store excess energy as fat. Then when the next famine came, that fat would be used as energy until food was available again. However today that famine never comes so the excess fat many people have stored never gets burnt, but we have not lost that instinctive drive to overeat when our bodies believe we are starving. This leads to a dangerous cycle of yo-yo dieting, bingeing and starving and constantly feeling guilty about ‘falling off the wagon’.

Most crash diets have one thing in common: a severe lack of carbohydrates. The Atkins Diet is probably the most well-known anti-carbohydrate diet but it comes with a string of negative side effects. A massive reduction in carbohydrates will result in rapid weight loss, but as I’ve previously mentioned this is not fat loss but vital fluids and muscle tissue being lost. Carbohydrates are in fact the body’s most basic and efficient source of energy; natural sugars (such as those found in fruits, vegetables and whole grains) are converted into glycogen which is then converted into glucose and used as fuel. However when carbohydrates are restricted or completely cut out from the diet, there are no natural sugars to convert into glycogen, and no glycogen to convert into glucose – so where is your body going to find the glycogen it needs? Initially glycogen will be extracted from fat but before long it will be taken from muscles, meaning you are not losing fat. Therefore the success of low carbohydrate diets (or rather, the reason why so many people lose weight on these diets) is actually down to muscle and fluid loss once again.

Side effects of crash diets, namely low-carbohydrate diets, can be very unpleasant and mimic the symptoms of diabetes. Hypoglycaemia (low blood sugar) and ketosis (excess blood ketone levels) will lead to light headedness, fatigue, nausea and bad breath as well as constipation as a result of a lack of fibre. Remaining on a low carbohydrate diet for a prolonged period of time can have very serious consequences; one recognised cause of bowel and colon cancers is a lack of fibre in the diet.

Complex carbohydrates are so essential that they actually have advantages to being in your diet. Firstly, you are less likely to gain weight in the form of fat if you eat carbohydrates. This is because the process in which carbohydrates are converted into fat consumes a lot of calories itself. Secondly, eating complex carbohydrates can actually increase your metabolism. This is due to two hormones being released as the carbohydrates are being broken down into sugars and insulin is released. These hormones - noradrenaline and thyroxin - increase the metabolic rate, allowing your body to effectively burn calories.

So if you’ve been successful and lost some weight on a crash diet, or as a result of starving your body of calories, is it possible to keep the weight off? The answer is no. When you return to your normal eating habits, your body won’t just ‘snap’ back to into its ability to function efficiently. You will have slowed down your metabolism, meaning your body will want to preserve every bit of energy it can get, resulting in you putting the weight back on. Often you will actually put on more weight than when you started. The constant hunger, bingeing, guilt and starving experienced during crash diets, starvation, calorie and portion restricting and meal skipping do more damage than good and will never result in maintaining a healthy weight or controlling your weight in the long-term. Your body needs a balanced diet which includes proteins, complex carbohydrates and fats at every meal, eaten regularly throughout the day so that the metabolic rate stays constant and your body can function properly whilst losing weight steadily. This is the simplest, easiest and most effective way of controlling your weight in the long-term. 

Vitamins: Their Importance, RDAs and Sources

      Vitamin A

      RDA: 900mcg

• An antioxidant which slows ageing process and protects body from cancer, heart disease and pollution. 
• Helps immune function
• Is needed for mucous membranes and bone and tooth growth
• Is essential for healthy vision: it’s a component of rhodopsin, a protein that absorbs light in the retinal receptors. It also supports differentiation and functioning of conjunctival membranes and the cornea
• Helps your cells communicate to each other
• Has a critical role in the normal formation and maintenance of the heart, lungs, kidneys and other organs

Vitamin A comes in two forms:

• Retinol / retinyl ester (animal form) found in meat (especially liver), fish (especially oils), eggs and dairy
• Carotenoid (mainly betacarotene) found in orange and yellow fruits and vegetables (provitamin A carotenoids) and leafy greens

Signs of Deficiency:

• Low iron levels (anaemia)
• Increased severity of infections, particularly diarrhoea and measles
• People with cystic fibrosis, pregnant and lactating women most at risk of deficiency (and thus breastfed children whose mothers are deficient)

B Vitamins

• Vital for turning food into mental and physical energy
• Richest in fresh fruit and vegetables
• Cannot be stored in the body so must be eaten daily
• Most people can get their RDA in their normal daily diets (vegans and vegetarians may need supplements)

Thiamin (Vitamin B1)

RDA: 1mg (men) and 0.8mg (women) daily

Keeps nerves and muscle tissue healthy

Found in:

• Vegetables (especially peas)
• Fresh and dried fruit
• Eggs
• Wholegrain breads
• Some fortified breakfast cereals
• Liver

Riboflavin (Vitamin B2)

RDA: 1.3mg (men) and 1.1mg (women) daily

• Helps your body use other B vitamins
• Keeps skin, eyes and nervous system healthy
• Helps body release energy from carbohydrates
• UV light can destroy riboflavin so these foods should be kept out of direct sunlight

Found in:

• Milk
• Eggs
• Fortified breakfast cereals
• Rice

Niacin (Vitamin B3)

RDA: 17mg (men) and 13mg (women) daily

Keeps nervous and digestive systems healthy

Found in:

• Meat and fish
• Wheat and maize flour
• Eggs
• Milk

Pantothenic Acid

Found in virtually all meats and vegetables, good sources include:

• Chicken
• Beef
• Kidney
• Potatoes
• Tomatoes
• Broccoli
• Eggs
• Wholegrains (brown rice and wholemeal bread)
• Some breakfast cereals if they have been fortified with pantothenic acid

Pyridoxine Vitamin B6

RDA: 1.4mg (men) and 1.2mg (women) daily

• Taking more than 200mg a day for a long time can lead to loss of feeling in arms and legs (peripheral neuropathy) which is reversible once you stop taking supplements
• Helps body make and use protein and glycogen which is the stored energy in muscles and liver
• Helps form haemoglobin which carries oxygen in your blood
• Requires zinc and magnesium to convert it into its active form
• Zinc, magnesium and B6 combined relieve symptoms of PMS

Found in:

• Pork
• Poultry
• Fish
• Bread
• Oatmeal, wheat germ, rice
• Soya beans, chickpeas and lentils
• Peanuts
• Vegetables (including potatoes)
• Eggs and milk
• Nuts and sunflower seeds
• Some fortified breakfast cereals

Folic Acid

RDA: 0.2mg daily (adults)

• Helps make red blood cells and prevent anaemia
• If pregnant or trying to conceive, take 0.4mg (400mcg) daily from the time you stop using contraception until the 12^th week of pregnancy to help prevent birth defects of the central nervous system such as spina bifida
• If you have family history of spina bifida, may need to take 5mg daily until 12^th week pregnancy
• Women with diabetes or taking anti-epileptic medicines should speak to their GP

Found in:

• Broccoli, spinach, Brussels sprouts, asparagus, peas
• Liver
• Chickpeas
• Brown rice
• Fortified breakfast cereals

Vitamin B12

RDA: 0.0015mg daily (adults)

• Helps to make red blood cells and keeping nervous system healthy
• Involved in processing folic acid to make DNA
• It becomes harder to absorb as you get older
• Meat, fish and dairy eaters should be able to get enough Vit B12 from their daily diet, but vegetarians and vegans will need to supplement this vitamin as well as looking out for fortified breakfast cereals which contain vitamin B12.

Biotin

Allows your body to use protein, fat and carbohydrate from food

Found in:

• Sweet potatoes
• Skimmed milk and yoghurt
• Peanuts and almonds
• Eggs
• Lover
• Soy protein

Vitamin C (Ascorbic Acid)

RDA: 40mg (adults) daily

• An antioxidant which helps prevent cell damage and reduces the risk for certain cancers and heart disease
• Necessary for maintenance of healthy connective tissue, which gives support and structure for other tissue and organs, protects cell walls
• Helps wound healing and gum health
• Boosts immune system and protects from infection
• Increases the amount of iron absorbed
• Lack of Vitamin C can lead to scurvy
• Taking more than 1,000mg per day can cause stomach pain, diarrhoea and flatulence which will disappear once you stop taking supplements
• Smokers need an extra 35mg daily

Found in wide variety of fruit and vegetables. Good sources include:

• Oranges, mangoes and papaya
• Red and green peppers
• Strawberries, blackcurrants and kiwi
• Broccoli and Brussels sprouts
• Potatoes

Vitamin D

RDA: 5mg (Most people get this amount through a healthy diet and being out in the sun)

• We get most of our Vitamin D from the sun; it is made when our body reacts to sunlight
• It supports calcium balance to help keep bones and teeth healthy and strong
• Increases amount of phosphorus absorbed
• It’s stored in bones
• Lack of Vitamin D leads to bone deformities such as rickets in children and bone pain and tenderness as a result of osteomalacia in adults

 It is found in:

• Oliy fish (salmon, sardines and mackerel)
• Eggs
• Fortified fat spreads
• Fortified breakfast cereals
• Powdered milk

Vitamin E

RDA: 4mg (men) and 3mg (women) daily

• An antioxidant which helps to maintain cell structure by protecting the cell membranes
• Richest sources are plant oils such as soya, corn and olive oil. 

Other sources are:

• Nuts and seeds
• Wheat germ found in cereals
• Avocados

Vitamin K

RDA: 0.001mg daily for each kg of body weight

• Needed for blood clotting, it helps heal wounds properly
• Involved in making proteins for blood, bones and kidneys
• People taking Warfarin must consume the same amounts of Vitamin K foods each day, a sudden increase or decrease could affect how the medication works

Found in:

• Leafy greens such as broccoli and spinach
• Vegetable oils
• Cereals
• Small amounts can be found in meat and dairy