Winter carbs… the highs and lows

With the dark evenings and the smell of ‘gunpowder’ in the air there’s nothing better than indulging in those comforting carbs. But it doesn’t have to mean putting on weight if you choose your carbs wisely and eat smart.

The average person puts on between 5 and 10lb between November and January. Most people see Christmas as blow out time, when they don’t have to think about health or their waistline until after the New Year. While there is nothing wrong with throwing caution to the wind and over-indulging once in a while, the problem lies with the fact that the sugary foods and drinks we consume over Christmas are addictive, and we find it harder than anticipated to go back to a healthier lifestyle come January. Research has shown that women in particular tend to put on half a stone a year, and this steady weight gain is often attributable to the yearly excesses of Christmas, which are not rectified come January, so more weight piles on year after year.

The concept of low GL eating to keep blood sugar balanced and increase energy and weight loss can just as easily be applied to winter festivities as to any other time of year. To limit the damage you do to your waistline you need to apply three main rules:

1. Avoid sugary, starchy carbohydrates and choose low GL, unrefined carbohydrates such as whole grains and fresh fruit and vegetables instead.
2. Eat regular meals (three meals a day plus two snacks in between), to keep blood sugar levels even and avoid temptation.
3. Eat protein and carbohydrate. Carbohydrate is broken down into sugar, whereas protein is digested much more slowly. By eating the two together, the protein helps to slow down the release of the sugar from the carbohydrate into the bloodstream.

For more information: The Low GL Diet Made Easy by Patrick Holford, £10.99

What’s good about… breakfast

Always eat breakfast. There’s a lot of truth in the old saying ‘breakfast like a King and dine like a pauper’. You need food for energy during the day, so it doesn’t make sense to eat half your day’s food in the evening. Don’t eat intil you are totally awake and as this is the most important meal of the day it should be substantial. As examples a free-range boiled egg with wholemeal toast, seed-rich muesli with yoghurt, milk or soya milk. With winter temperatures upon us a hit bowl of porridge oats with some fresh fruit is appealing on a cold morning - and preparation doesn’t need to be time consuming.

The following is about as instant as oats get, and as quick to make as a cup of tea. Oats are full of low-GL, slow-release carbohydrates and fibre, and the almonds provide protein and bone building minerals, calcium and magnesium. It is delicious on its own or you can add chopped fresh fruit. If you can’t get pre-cracked flaxseeds (linseeds) you can grind whole flaxseeds in order to release their beneficial omega-3 fats and fibre - which also disguises them for fusspots. It’s also cheaper.

Ingredients
45g (just under 2oz, or 4 tbsp) whole porridge oats
2 tbsp ground almonds
2 heaped tsp xylitol (natural alternative to sugar sold as XyloSweet)
2 tsp pre-cracked or ground flaxseeds (linseeds)

Place all the ingredients in a bowl and cover with 150ml (5fl oz) boiling water. Stir and leave to thicken for 2 minutes.

This recipe comes from Smart Food for Smart Kids by Patrick Holford & Fiona McDonald Joyce £12.99

What’s bad about… cereal bars

Taking a short cut on breakfast with one of the many breakfast cereal bars available may seem like a logical step for thosewho think they don’t have time for breakfast. But beware, the sugar content of many of these bars is high - and although you might feel like you’ve replaced one of the most important meals of the day, all you have done is postpone good nutrition with a quick and unsustainable sugar rush and you’ll be reaching for another sugary snack in no time.

As an example an Alpen Fruit and Nut bar contains the equivalent of over two teaspoons of sugar and if you choose the chocolate one that’s another 15% more sugar and nearly 2g of saturated fat! Comparing that with a bowl of Alpen itself and you halve the sugar and fat content and also have a much higher fibre content. This is a more sustainable breakfast that will not cause a sudden sugar surge and subsequent drop that follows ingestion of refined sugars.

Very few cereal bars can provide the slow release carbohydrates of a bowl of porridge because they all contain refined sugars. Dried fruits like sultanas are also frequently used and these are another high sugar source that should be avoided.

Did you know? Spot the sugar: in a list of ingredients, any word that ends with ‘-ose’ (such as ‘glucose’, ‘dextrose’, ‘fructose’, etc.) is likely to be a form of sugar. So, it’s not just the word ‘Sugar’ you are looking for - and often there is more than one listed!

ANP (Advanced Nutrition Programme) presents: Metabolic Support Formula

Modern gorwing methods and storage of foods mean the nutritional content of food is not what it was - to say the least. (See Graham’s Harvey’s book We Want Real Food, £9.99) So there is no guarantee that you are getting all you need from a well balanced diet. In order to ensure your metabolism is working at peak efficiency you can supplement your diet with fat-burning vitamins and minerals.

In addition to a good multi and vitamin C, you need to stabilise your appetite and sugar cravings with a combination of HCA (hydroxycitric acid) 5-HTP (5-hydroxytryptophan) and chromium. HCA works best before meals, 30 minutes before lunch and your evening meal. 5-HTP should be taken with a carbohydrate snack, like fruit, mid-morning and min-afternoon. It also gives your mood a boost, but it should not be taken if you are already on anti-depressants. Chromium also works best with your snacks and should be taken twice a day.

The ANP Metabolic Support Formula contains these three essential supplements packaged in handy blister packs with directions of how to take the supplements for best results. Following a healthy Low-GL diet will help you lose weight, but adding supplementswill make a positive and healthy difference.

Of course, excercise is a vital element to staying healthy and fighting the ageing process. Just 15 minutes twice a day will stabalise your blood sugar levels and reduce your appetite. It seems the less we move the more we eat, and vice versa: the body needs physical activity to work properly, just as it needs water or vitamins.

Food, fat and allergy… a hidden hazard

Food allergies and intolerances are on the increase. They are frequently the cause of many common health problems that simply won’t go away. One in two people, including up to 70% of the chronically ill, suffers from a hidden food allergy. But there are things we can do to deal with food allergies and intolerances. Intially, you need to findout which foods are your problem: and an ANP (Advanced Nutrition Programme) Food Intolerance Test will tell you if any food is responsible for your symptoms.

Food sensitivities may cause allergic people to crave those foods to which they are allergic. Just as a drug addict suffers withdrawal symptoms when the drug is withdrawn, allergic people experience discomfort when they lose access to a particular food - so tend to eat more.

Water rentention, or oedema, is particularly common among allergic individuals and is an important contributing factor to obesity. The removal of an offending food will often result in a rapid water loss of five to ten pounds within a week’s time, all without the use of a diuretic. Michael Rosenbaum, M.D., who practices preventive medicine in Mill Valley, California, has observed this water retention phenomenon frequently among patients in his allergy clinic. He found that following the initial water loss, the person also tends to lose fat more easily, even without dieting. Rosenbaum states: “food sensitivities can cause the body to retain both water and fat.”

Dealing with food intolerance

Once you have established which foods you are intolerant to, you need to avoid the offending food(s) for a minimum of 3 months (even 6) - no exceptions. Going cold turkey will be hard at first; withdrawal symptoms may make you feel worse for the first 3-5 days. Physiological addiction to food is no different from addiction to alcohol, caffeine or tobacco.

Eat plenty of fruit and vagetables. These not only provide vitamins and antioxidants but actually reduce your allergic potential - for example the anti-inflammatory nutrient quercetin (richest in red onions, spinach, carrots, broccoli, apples and berries) calms down the immune response. Choose organic, especially for foods you eat raw and unpeeled such as apples, pears, berries, tomatoes and carrots. Have something raw with most meals.

Easy on grains and dairy
Dairy and gluten, or at least gliadin grains, are common allergic culprits, so, go easy on wheat in particular. Eat non-gliadin oats, and non-gluten grains such as buckwheat, rice, quinoa, corn and millet. Vary your diet as much as possible. Don’t eat the same foods every day, it’s crucial to give your immune system a break and help reverse and prevent a recurrence of food allergy.

What’s good about… Xylitol

Xylitol is a sugar alternative that’s extracted from plants, some of the best sources are fruits, berries, mushrooms, corncobs and hardwoods. It looks and tastes just like ordinary sugar, has the same sweetness as sugar but 40% few calories, no unpleasant aftertaste and none of the negative tooth decay or insulin release effects - making it the perfect low GL sweetner. In fact, you’d have to eat 9 spoonfuls of xylitol to get the same effect on your blood sugar levels as just one spponful of sugar! It also has half the GL score of fructose. It has been used in foods since the 1960s and can also be found in chewing gum and dental products to help prevent against cavities, plaque and gum disease.

Xylitol is recommended for anyone who wants to lose weight, control their blood sugar and boost their energy levels. If you struggle with a sweet tooth or with children who are loathed to give up their favourite biscuits and treats, XyloSweet and PerfectSweet are the ideal solutions for baking.

What’s bad about… artificial sweetneners

Artificial sweetners can actually make you eat more. According to new research from Purdue University in Indiana, USA, artificial sweetners may disrupt the body’s ability to count calories. Professor Terry Davidson and associate professor Susan Swithers, both in the Department of Psychological Sciences, found that artificial sweetners could disrupt the body’s natural ability to “count” calories based on foods’ sweetness. This finding may explain why increasing numbers of people in the United States lack the natural ability to regulate food intake and body weight.

The Purdue’s researchers’ study, “A Pavlovian Approach to the Problem of Obesity”, appears in the July issue of International Journal of Obesity. Davidson and Swithers, members of the Ingestive Behavior Research Center at Purdue , suggest that being able to automatically match caloric intake with caloric need depends on the body’s ability to learn that the taste and feel of food by the mouth suggests the appropriate caloric intake. Much as Pavlov’s dogs learned that the sound of a bell signaled food, people learn that both sweet tastes and dense, viscous foods signal high calories. This learning process begins very early in life and perhaps without concious awareness, according to the researchers.
“The body’s natural ability to regulate food intake and body weight may be weakened when this natural relationship is impaired by artificial sweetners” said Davidson, and expert in behavioral meuroscience. “Without thinking about it, the body learns that it can use food characteristics such as sweetness and visosity to gauge its caloric intake. The body may use this information to determine how much food is required to meet its caloric needs”.
“Our hypothesis is that artificially sweetened food interferes with the natural ability of the body to use sweet taste to gauge caloric content of foods and beverages. When you substitute artificial sweetner for real sugar, however, the body learns it can no longer use its sense of taste to gauge calories. So, the body may be fooled into thinking a product sweetened with sugar has no calories and, therefore, people overeat. Our research reinforces this and shows that our bodies translate this information about perceived calories into a gauge to tell us when to stop eating”.

ANP (Advanced Nutrition Programme) presents: Metabolic Pack & Food Test

When embarking on a weight loss programme it is useful to find out if you have any food sensitivities as this could hinder weight loss. It is also useful to encourage the mechanisms of metabolism with an appropriate supplement programme.

Metabolic Support Formula from Advanced Nutrition Programme is an aid to a healthy diet and exercise plan. It can help to manage appetite, metabolise fats and control carbohydrate cravings. As an aid to a healthy diet, the three supplement pack includes: HCA which can stimulate the body’s burning of excess calories as fuel rather than storing them as fat, 5HTP to ensure an adequate supply of serotonin, required to control appetite and carbohydrate cravings as well to help maintaina balancedmood, and chromium to balance blood sugar. This suports your focus on creating a leaner, fitter body.

ANP Food Intolerance Test provides a quick answer to the basic question - ‘Do I have an intolerance to any foods?’ This unique YES/NO food intolerance test is the quick way to determine whether or not your symptoms could be food related. Food intolerances can underlie many health symptoms including bloating, tiredness anxiety, constipation, diarrhoea, headaches, migraine, water retention, haemorrhoids, depression, weight problems, IBS, acne, eczema, rosacea etc. If the test is negative you can rule out food as the problem. If positive you will be contated by YorkTest who will offer you the option of analysing your same blood sample to identify which specific foods you are reacting to.

For more information: Hidden Food Allergies by Patrick Holford and Dr James Braly £7.99

Although the Patrick Holford products are not available online as they cannot be sold to just anyone, we do sell them at our salon Le Spa, if you would like to know more about them or like to buy some from us you can speak to Joanne at the salon (01330 825150) who would be happy to discuss them with you. Thanks.

Feeding the skin… from within

What you do when you are not visiting the salon and using professional products at home is a vital ingredient in the health of your skin. Lifestyle decisions like smoking, sunbathing, alcohol consumption and diet will all have an effect on the health of the skin. When the body is allocating nutrients from food the skin is the last organ to be provided for. A poor diet, stress, smoke, lack of sleep, alcohol and other enviromental pollutants all take their toll on the body’s capacity to stay healthy and neutralise all the toxins that it has to contend with daily.

There is an increasing body of clinical research pointing to the fact that beauty treatments can only go so far. The very familiar term ‘you are what you eat’ goes a lot further than just the weighing scales. Healthy, good looking skin depends on a combination of the right diet, with vitamins and minerals at effective levels, as well as the right treatments and products.

Research shows the importance of nutrition for healthy skin and concludes that taking oral supplements has many benefits over topical application. It feeds skin over the entire body in a bioactive form and feeds even the deeper layers of the skin (British Journal of Nutrition, 2006).

But why do we need supplements? Due to a multiplicity of influences even an apparently ‘healthy’ diet today in the UK can be deficient in vitamin and mineral levels required for good skin and wellbeing, Factors such as soil quality, farming methods, packaging, transportation, storage and even cooking methods all have a draining effect on the vitamin and mineral content of our food. All this means that individuals have to take control of their own health.

Using great products on the skin is only doing half the job. Feeding the skin from within has a powerful effect on its surface. For example, essential fats omega 3 (EPA and DHA) and omega 6 (GLA) aare needed for every single skin cell to maintain its plumpness and smoothness. Dry skin is often a sign of a lack of these fats, which are a vital component of the cell walls; without them skin becomes and remains dehydrated, no matter how much water is drunk. Vitamin C supports the immune system and also prevents sagging skin by strengthening collagen. Antioxidants protect against free radical damage that contributes to wrinkles.

What’s good about… fruit & veg for skin

A good diet consisting of fresh, untreated foods is essential for the health of your entire body, not just your skin and reducing the speed at which it ages or degenerates in any way. Given the importance of keeping your digestive tract and liver in good working order for healthy skin, a diet should include foods naturally high in fibre; e.g. raw or lightly cooked veg and fruit, wholegrains, root vegetables, lentils, beans and other unprocessed foods, well chewed and eaten when you are relaxed.

A recent report in the British Journal of Nutrition stated that ‘dietary bioactive compunds - including Vitamins A and C carotenoids, polyphenols, selenium and zinc - have beneficial effects on skin health’. It also noted that ‘the use of functional foods and oral supplements for improving skin condition is increasing’.

Eating plenty of antioxidant-rich foods every day is therefore a key dietary factor - red/orange/yellow vegetables and fruits such as sweet potatoes, carrots, apricots and watermelon, purple foods such as berries and grapes, green foods such as watercress, kale, alfalfa sprouts and broccoli, ’seed’ foods such as peas and wholegrains, fresh nuts, seeds and their oils, onions, garlic.

So remember:

• The Rainbow Rule… foods that offer a range of colours to help keep you healthy.
• Fresh and Raw… vegetables and fruits are best when just picked and eaten raw. So buy the freshest don’t cook or store too ling.
• Water and Fibre… fresh fruit and vegetables have a high water and fibre content so are great for increasing your water intake and cleansing the gut with undigested fibre.

Ref. Myriam, M, Sabatier, et al. Skin bioavailability of dietary vitamin E, carotenoids, polyphenolsm vitamin C, zinc and selenium. British Journal of Nutrition 2006, 96:227-238.

What’s bad about… sugary snacks for skin

Refined sugar and carb snacks may give you a quick buzz, but this burst of ‘energy’ is not good for your system. Very simply explained it puts the blood sugar out of balance and your body sends out more insulin to cope with this. If this happens regularly it results in the decreased ability to remove excess blood glucose from the bloodstream.
This then finds its way into the tissues and starts to create a low-grade chronic inflammation that causes the tissues to age prematurely. It will also cause long term systemic problems with other organs and a continued intake of highly refined sugary foods will have a detrimental effect on general health too - possibly resulting in diabetes, cardiovascular disease and Alzheimer’s.
So avoid that chocolate bar or bag of crisps and have some nuts or an apple instead.

ANP (Advanced Nutrition Programme) presents: New SKIN Range

A great new range of SKIN supplements has been developed to make choosing your personal supplement programme easy-peasy!

As many of you are now aware - supplementing a healthy diet can have great results on your skin. But how do you know what it right for you? ANP have now simplified the whole process so that you can choose your core product from three different strength multis - and then add from a great new SKIN range depending on your specific needs.

Those of you not familiar with taking daily supplemements can start with SKIN Vitality 1 - a great single-pill ‘multi’ that is formulated by Patick Holford with the best ingredients as a base-line daily supplement. You may then choose to add from the new SKIN range: SKIN Omegas - for dry and sensitive skin, SKIN C - for thread veins and those who bruise easily, SKIN Collagen Support - for wrinkles and fine lines or SKIN Defender - for those worried about the effects of sun damage and as an extra protection for paler skins. Any of these can be added as a boost to your specific needs.

It’s a great system formulated by Patrick so that everybody can find a supplement that suits their personal skin requirements and lifestyle. Ask your salon for more details on the new SKIN range.

For more information: Solve Your Skin Problems - Patrick Holford £6.99

Although the Patrick Holford products are not available online as they cannot be sold to just anyone, we do sell them at our salon Le Spa, if you would like to know more about them or like to buy some from us you can speak to Joanne at the salon (01330 825150) who would be happy to discuss them with you. Thanks.

Skeleton Key… keeping ageing bones strong

Osteoporosis is not just a female post-menopausal problem; a recent new item in the medical press highlighted a new drug that had been approved by the EU for treating men with osteoporosis. The rise in the incidence of this problem means that both men and woman should look at the prevention of ‘porous bones’ - what the word osteoporosis actually means. What has made osteoporosis more prevalent in recent years includes changes in western diet, plus the lack of weight bearing excercise.

Bone is made up of a thick outer shell and a strong inner honeycomb mesh or tiny struts of bone. Osteoporosis means some of these struts become thin and also break down, making the bone more fragile and prone to break. It often remains undetected until the first fracture. Broken wrists, ankles, hips and collapsed spinal bones are the most common fractures in people with osteoporosis.

Those most at risk include;

• Women at menopause or men who have low levels of testosterone
• People who take long term corticosteroid drugs (for conditions such as asthma or arthritis)
• Those with medical conditions which affect the absorption of foods, such as ulcerative colitis
• People who drink excessive amounts of alcohol or smoke
• Those who are underweight or have an eating disorder

When should we worry?

Looking after your bones should really start in your early 30s - well before menopause. The phrase ‘prevention is better than cure’ was never truer than with osteoporosis. Bone mass begins to decline in the 30s, but causes no symptoms until a significant loss has occured. Between 30-40% of bone loss is experienced between the ages of 55-70 which is when fractures often occur. Once the bone strength is lost is cannot be regained and all treatments are only designed to prevent further loss. So prevention is certainly the best way to avoid fractures in older age.

One of the primary causes of osteoporosis may surprise you; excessive amounts of protein in the diet. This leads to calcium being leached from the bones to neutralise blood acidity. Many believe that dietary calcium deficiency is the cause but vitamins C, D, E and K all play vital roles in bone health as do certain minerals. A good example is fizzy drinks, these should be limited as they contain phosphorus, which inhibits calcium absorption.

What’s good about… Almonds

An ounce of almonds (about 23 almonds) contains as much calcium as 1/4 cup of milk, 6 mg more magnesium than 1/2 cup of spinach, and the same amount of fiber as a medium0sized apple.

Almonds build strong bones: they contain more calcium than any other nut, and they are high in the trace mineral boron, which can help regulate calcium metabolism.

A one-ounce serving of almonds is an excellent source of vitamin E, magnesium and maganese, and a good source of fiber, copper, riboflavin, folic acid and phosphorus. Every ounce has 6 grams of protein, and 12 grams of heart-healthy unsaturated fats. That’s a lot of nutrients for such a small package.

Vitamin E counters some of the damage caused by things like sun or pollution exposure, diabetes, smoking and many body processes. Additionally, vitamin E may reduce the inflammatory response in blood vessel walls, which otherwise can lead to plaque buildup, especially when the individual also consumes fish oils.

Almonds are a great source of monounsaturated fat, which lowers ‘bad’ LDL cholestrol and raises ‘good’ HDL cholesterol. Almonds are even lower in saturated fat than olive oil, and one study in California found them more effective in reducing cholesterol. Almonds are rich in protein and fiber, and they have cancer-fighting protease inhibitors.

What’s bad about… calcium supplements

Loss of bone density can be caused by a secondary calcium deficiency - that is factors that impair its absorption or inhibit mineralization of bone? So a calcium supplement would not improve this situation and in fact calcium alone cannot improve bone mass as various other minerals and vitamins need to be present in sufficient quantities to make this happen. As an example, vitamin D is not only essentiak fir the absorption of dietary calcium, but also stimulates the bone-building cells (osteoblasts) to produce osteocalin, a protein that binds calcium. It doesn’t matter how much calcium you take, without adequate vitamin D it will not be absorbed. The sun is one of the best sources of Vitamin D; a reasonable exposure of an area of skin to the sun each day can improve Vitamin D intake. Once the calcium is absorbed, its binding to osteocalcin in the bone is dependent upon Vitamin K which is found in green leafy vegetables. All green vegetables are good sources of vitamin K, particuarly broccoli.

Calcium supplements may also increase the risk of a heart attack in older women, recent research suggests. The researchers said the supplements may raise the risk of a heart attack by accelerating hardening of the blood vessels. Lead researcher Professor Ian Reid from the Univeristy of Auckland team said: “It is likely that this is primarily a problen for elderly women because they are more likely than younger subjects to have prevalent coronary heart disease”.

Did you know? Exercise is also a vital element to keeping bones healthy - just 30 minutes a day makes all the difference. Weight bearing exercise, like walking and stair climbing, encourages the body to respond by depositing more mineral in the bones - especially in the legs, hips and spine.

ANP (Advanced Nutrition Programme) presents: Bone Support

Bone Support from ANP provides two of the most essential minerals, Calcium and Magnesium, vital for maintaining bone density. Bone Support also contains Boron, Silica and vitamins A and D work as co-factors to help maintain healthy bones.

Boron and Silicon act synergistically in Bone Support to maintain bone health and stem bone degeneration. Boron plays a key role in retaining calcium in our bones and Silicon is required for the functioning of an enzyme that is responsible for the formation of collagen in bone, cartilage and other connective tissues.

Minerals and trace elements like maganesium are also involved in bone growth and vitamins play a vital role in calcium metabolism.

For more information: The New Optimum Nutrition Bible by Patrick Holford £12.99

Although the Patrick Holford products are not available online as they cannot be sold to just anyone, we do sell them at our salon Le Spa, if you would like to know more about them or like to buy some from us you can speak to Joanne at the salon (01330 825150) who would be happy to discuss them with you. Thanks.