weight loss

Leave a comment Posted on February 22, 2016February 22, 2016 Weight Loss

Top tips on how to fight the cravings and maintain a healthy weight

Shona Wilkinson

Watch our video featuring nutritionist Shona Wilkinson for helpful tips and advice on how you can maintain a healthy weight in 2016

Many of us think that we are taking the right steps in being healthy, which means it can be frustrating when we are not feeling as energetic and happy as we would like. There are many factors that you may not even think about, such as stress, which can lead our bodies to release glucose to the blood stream quickly, which usually gets converted into energy and with many of us living inactive lifestyles the glucose turns to fat. This can often make it difficult to maintain your weight. Therefore, lowering your sugar intake, or replacing sugar in your diet with healthier options can help you feel happier and healthier.

Shona Wilkinson, head nutritionist at NutriCentre shares her advice on how many different factors can impact your weight and what you can do to make sure 2016 is the year you finally achieve your ideal body.

Below are some helpful tips to help you with your weight management this year.

When you’re trying to be healthy one of the best things you can do is cut out sugary drinks which are full of sugar, sweeteners, additives, colourings and preservatives. If you are avoiding sugary drinks it can be nice to give yourself something a bit different to just water – as wonderful as water is! You may think water can be boring, but here are a few suggestions that may inspire you to get a bit more creative when it comes to drinking your two litres a day.

Water and fruit- Fruit juice is a favourite drink for many people but it contains too much fructose (sugar) when drunk neat. So what about infused water? To add natural flavour to your drinking water you can steep flavoursome and fragrant things in it (for at least two hours), you will be amazed at what a difference it makes.

Sugar makes our food taste great, gives us a quick boost of energy, and makes us feel good, at least temporarily. But it’s also a highly addictive substance and when consumed frequently, can have negative effects on our health.
Make sure your meals contain protein, non-starchy vegetables and unrefined carbohydrates. To avoid the cycle of blood glucose dips and peaks that make you reach for sugar, it is vital to base your meals on foods that have a ‘low glycaemic index rating’, that make you feel full and are digested slowly. Perhaps the most important of these are foods that contain good amounts of protein.
Have breakfast! – As well as ensuring your meals and snacks give a slow release of energy, it is vitally important that one of these meals is a healthy breakfast.
Quitting sugar doesn’t mean you shouldn’t snack- When choosing your between-meal nibbles, remember that they should be based on the same principles as above and contain protein, healthy fats and/or unrefined carbohydrates
Take some exercise – Moderate exercise helps us to feel energised, less sluggish, and healthier. It can help to control stress levels and also support blood sugar control to avoid dips that will induce cravings.
Support your energy with B vitamins, vitamin C and magnesium- B vitamins, vitamin C and the mineral magnesium are particularly important nutrients that are needed to produce energy from the foods that we eat; and we can struggle to get enough of them, even in a healthy diet.

So whether you have fallen off the New Year’s Resolution band wagon, are looking for motivation to stay dedicated or simply looking for inspiration to help beat the cravings, watch our video for helpful tips.

2 Comments Posted on February 5, 2016February 4, 2016 Diet

Millions of us cutting out everything from gluten and dairy to sugar and fat….but how many of us really need to?

Millions of us are cutting out different foods and ingredients from our diets, without any medical guidance to do so.

Shona Wilkinson

That’s according to new research released today which shows that almost one in ten have eliminated dairy from their diet – half of those based on their own self-diagnosis, slightly less wheat – more than 40% having self-diaganosed an intolerance, and a similar number gluten – with half of those having made the decision based on their own knowledge.

Furthermore, following the war on sugar in the last two years, one in five of us have eliminated it from our diets, while one in six have ditched fat.

The study by Nutricentre also asked respondents what other measures they have taken to improve their health and or lose weight in the last two years, with a third having tried eating smaller portions, one in six skipping meals and a similar number skipping breakfast.

More than one in 20 have gone on a juice diet, while slightly less have tried weight management classes and soup diets, with some having gone vegetarian and some vegan.

But do these measures actually work? And what do you need to know if you are set on cutting out certain foods in 2016?

Recent research suggests:-

• As many of us continue on with our new year health kicks, a new study released today looks at the trend for eliminating food groups from our diets as a fix-all solution to weight and health issues

• Almost one out of ten say they have cut out dairy in the last two years, with similar numbers having eliminated gluten and wheat

• More than 40% who have eliminated those food groups have done so after self-diagnosis

• With the war on sugar one of the biggest health stories of the last year, it’s no surprise that more than a fifth have cut out sugar, while one in six have got rid of fat in their diet

• But could the trend for cutting things from our diet without medical advice to do so, be unnecessary?

So Patient Talk interviewed Shona Wilkinson, a leading nutritionist, to get the facts straight!

PatientTalk.Org – What are the common food groups being eliminated and why? And is the overall effect a positive one?

Shona Wilkinson- Nutricentre has done a study on over 2000 people, and we’ve actually seen that about 1 in 10 people are cutting out a common food group. These seem to really be wheat, dairy, fat, and sugar, as the predominant ones. So sometimes this can be necessary, and sometimes it can’t. So we just have to be a bit careful if were cutting out whole food groups from our diet, to make sure that were not cutting out nutrient groups as well.

PatientTalk.Org- Is it really possible to cut out fat and sugar from a diet given basic chemistry?

Shona Wilkinson- Probably not. And I don’t know quite why you’d want to cut them totally out of your diet. Why would you want to cut out fat from your diet? This was a message that was going around in the 70s and still seems to be hanging on out there at the moment, so no we don’t want to cut fat out of our diet. Sugar, yes it’s not great for us, but again we don’t want to cut it totally out of our diet. And as soon as you cut something out of your diet, the one thing you can guarantee is that you have real cravings for it, so don’t cut it totally out of your diet, we’re talking about reducing it.

PatientTalk.Org- And how much of it is intolerance related?

Shona Wilkinson -As far as the wheat and dairy is concerned, quite a lot of it. So talking about wheat, quite often people when they have wheat in their diet it can give them digestive problems, so it could be cramping, it could be diahrrea, it could be constipation, quite often a lot of bloating as well. So that can be an intolerance. As far as dairy is concerned, common side effects of having dairy are usually kind of mucus related, a blocked nose, blocked air passages, that kind of thing.

PatientTalk.Org- Okay. What is the difference between an allergy and intolerance?

Shona Wilkinson- There’s a big difference between an allergy and an intolerance, so an example would be, being a celiac. A celiac is someone who has got an auto immune disease and cannot have gluten in their diet. So that’s an actual allergy. The difference there would be someone who gets digestive problems after they’ve had gluten. So rather than it being very severe it could be just a bit of bloating. So they are very two distinct different things.

PatientTalk.Org – So in terms of severity, an allergy is a way more severe problem than an intolerance?

Shona Wilkinson- Absolutely and it can in some cases be life threatening.

PatientTalk.Org – Why has gluten intolerance increased in the last few years?

Shona Wilkinson- Yes gluten intolerance has seemed to increase in the last few years and there’s two schools of thought about this. Partly because one reason could be its quite trendy at the moment to follow a gluten free diet. The other reason is purely the amount of gluten we have in our diets nowadays. So we may have toast or cereal for breakfast, followed by a sandwich or baguette or some sort for lunch, followed by a pasta meal in the evening. That’s quite a common diet for a lot of people nowadays, and if you think about it that’s wheat, wheat, wheat for every single meal, and it’s just becoming too much for our bodies to deal with. So if you’re in that kind of situation, it’s just a matter of reducing your intake, or perhaps cutting out of your diet for 12 weeks and then slowly reintroducing it at a steady slow level and letting your body let you know what is the amount it can deal with every day.

PatientTalk.Org – What is the difference between celiac and gluten intolerance?

Shona Wilkinson – yes so celiac is an actual auto immune disease. It’s medically recognized and it can be life threatening. An intolerance is when you get slight digestive conditions after eating wheat containing food. So they are very different, one is a medical condition and one is more an intolerance that you just can’t cope with it as much.

PatientTalk.Org – What is a juice diet and how would it work?

Shona Wilkinson – Yeah, the juice diet again is quite trendy at the moment, especially it being January. Basically its people living for probably usually about 7 days, just purely on juices. We have to be very careful about this because it’s not really training you on how to eat healthily so by the end of your juice diet you can just go back to your normal unhealthy eating habits. But also with juices, they tend to be predominately fruit, which can be high sugar content. So not the healthiest of thing, not something a nutritionist usually recommends.

PatientTalk.Org- Is there much evidence of self-diagnosis? How is it done? What are the dangers, if any, associated with self-diagnosis?

Shona Wilkinson – Yes the study done by Nutricentre shows that 40% of people have eliminated food groups from their diet just on self-diagnosis. This is usually just by monitoring their symptoms, some people keep a food diary and monitor any symptoms they’ve got after they’ve eating a certain type of food. A lot of people reading things on the internet. There aren’t really any dangers of this unless you’re cutting out a food group and not getting the nutrients that you need. So for example if you become a vegan, then you have to be careful that you’re still getting the nutrients that you need there. Self-diagnosis can also be done through a blood test, which is quite an accurate way to see if you’ve got a food intolerance. There’s lots of other tests out there which I wouldn’t necessarily recommend, but a blood test is the most accurate.

PatientTalk.Org – Does this trend suggest a decrease in confidence in traditional health care providers?

Shona Wilkinson- I don’t think it does, I think it’s just that people are more health aware nowadays, and they have access to more information through the internet.

PatientTalk.Org- What common ways are used by empowered patients to improve their health?

Shona Wilkinson- Yes, I think people are now more aware of their health. They’re more aware of where to find out information. I think also people know that if you cook your food at home you know exactly what’s going into that food. Whereas if you buy a ready meal for example you can probably guarantee it’s got sugar and salt in it to begin with because that’s what our taste buds like. So I think the health empowered patient is knowing that they want to cook their food at home and be a bit more aware of exactly what they’re eating.

PatientTalk.Org- Finally what advice would you give to somebody who has just diagnosed themselves with an allergy or intolerance?

Shona Wilkinson – Yes I wouldn’t like to think that anyone is diagnosing themselves with an allergy that has to be done by a medical professional. If they think they have a food intolerance, try keeping a food diary and making sure that you do. And perhaps speak to a nutritionist to get some advice, the best way to deal with this.

Leave a comment Posted on January 31, 2016January 27, 2016 Exercise

Different ways to stay fit with your busy lifestyle

Developing a daily workout schedule is hard and not a custom to most of us. We tend to sink deep into our daily routines and forget to remind ourselves of the need for setting aside some time to give our bodies fitness treats. Staying physically fit while attending to your daily chores is a possibility as long as these simple dos and don’ts are adhered to.

Intensify your working

Diets for weight loss

Good lifestyle fitness and an organized workout plan are critically important insofar as weight loss is concerned. Schedule your days’ activities by dividing your days working hours and the jobs you will be doing during each session while taking into account the amount of energy required for each activity. Give yourself some time to rest before embarking on your next activity. The trick here is to get as much exercise as possible to help strengthen your muscles, monitor your pulse and burn fat.

A continuous 30-50 min workload in your subdivided plan followed by adequate rest time before the next session is the most ideal way to go. This will ensure your fitness level is at your sleeve while at the same time shedding off extra weight.

Commit to a fitness workout time-table

Although one can comfortably do without this, it’s important to draw and strictly carry out a good fitness plan. Having time to the gym, no matter how busy your day may look will always be a plus in your weight loss program.

An hour or so for aerobics isn’t a bad decision either. Besides the fun or enthusiasm associated with the training session, there are other numerous healthy benefits you can always enjoy – losing weight is just one of them.

Have a little fun

A day with fun is a day worth remembering. Working from sunrise to sunset won’t make you a successful. Fun and little play will help refresh your mind, cut off your day’s stress and most importantly, help you burn the extra fats in your body. As a matter of fact, having the right weight keeps obesity and heart related complications at bay.

Team work

Haven’t you heard that two heads are better than one? Then get a partner and work your way out to achieving your weight loss goals together. Getting a like-minded partner is a great a challenge but the ideal thing is to find someone you will enjoy working with, have fun together and the one that will remind you to go for a run or jog when you are fully engrossed in your favorite movie.

Teaming up with a friend will make you do more than what you do when you are alone. That means working as a team will not only make you burn more fat but will also ensure you remain and in the right mood.

Make friends with the kitchen

Getting rid of the obsession of processed foods, restaurant meals and deviating from take-away from cafeterias is must if you want to achieve any progress in weight loss resolutions. Having a whole week feeding plan and timetable will help you avoid this unhealthy habit. Eating vegetables and cereals on certain days and carrying packed lunch on daily basis at work won’t cost you as much. Irrespective of your status, teens or CEOs alike break the rule and take to the kitchen to live long and stay fit.

Engage in physical fitness daily

Our health is always our priority and staying fit is the only guarantee of living healthily. How we should stay fit and work at the same time is more often a puzzle to many.

Follow these few simple weight loss tips and you will find yourself ticking towards your ultimate goal of a fit, flexible and healthy physique.

Exercising alone won’t guarantee us food on the table; hence, a great deal is on how to fix our routine exercising plan into our daily schedule without brushing shoulders with relevant protocols around us.

A routine interval workout plan can be a great solution in such circumstances. A proper analysis of what you are expected of during the day and good grooming of your style of working with a little intensity can work you miracles as far as your staying fit and weight loss scale is concerned.

Let your hobbies in

Nothing entertains more than doing what you enjoy doing. Discovering your likes and dislikes and perfecting on your likes will help you shed off a considerable amount of weight.

Take for example an artiste who loves music, and takes her performance to the nearby church during his/her free time, dancers who train daily using new different styles and a footballer who will take to the pitch on daily basis to perfect his skills. This group besides enjoying their take has an upper hand when it comes to staying fit and healthy.

References

http://enkivillage.com/importance-of-high-fiber-diet-in-day-to-day-life.html

http://global-health-tips.blogspot.com/2016/01/functional-fitness-training-for.html

Author Bio

Kathy Mitchell was born and raised in the USA. She has done MA in English literature, and she loves to write articles on health and beauty. She loves to read daily online magazine on health and beauty. Also, she is contributing to consumer health digest since 2011.Her articles are both professional and creative. You can contact her on Facebook and Twitter.

Leave a comment Posted on January 28, 2016January 26, 2016 Hormones

Testosterone Deficiency Syndrome – What is it? What are it’s signs and how can it be treated?

Testosterone Deficiency Syndrome

A survey has lifted the lid on how men really feel when it comes to talking about sensitive topics, with nearly half of British men (49%) more comfortable discussing difficult financial matters than sensitive health issues such as loss of libido.

With only 4 in 10 (41%) regularly speaking with their partner about their physical and mental health, sensitive issues are proving to be a harder topic for today’s man to tackle, even in 2016.

However, experts are concerned that men’s lack of openness about their health may be stopping them from tackling any issues they are facing.

One such issue is testosterone deficiency syndrome or TDS, which affects around 700,000 men aged between 50 and 79 in the UK.

So we decided to interview Dr Douglas Savage who is both a GP and men’s health expert to find more about testosterone deficiency syndrome. What are the signs and symptoms of testosterone deficiency syndrome? How is testosterone deficiency syndrome treated? Who is affected by testosterone deficiency syndrome? Find out more in this fascinating interview below!

Patient Talk – From a clinical point of view, what is testosterone deficiency syndrome?

Dr Doug Savage – It’s a combination of a lower level of testosterone than normal and typical symptoms, the typical symptoms are what we call sexual and non-sexual ones, the sexual ones may be, erection problems and the non-sexual ones which are often actually more striking than the sexual ones , excessive fatigue, poor concentration, the patient often uses the word brain fog , they tend to find it difficult to think things through , they may have a depressed moods, they may be irritable , some of them get excess sweating but I would say the most striking one is the fatigue they often say it’s ridiculous as they could sit down and go straight to sleep.

Patient Talk – Who is affected by testosterone deficiency syndrome?

Dr Doug Savage – This can occur in men of all ages but it’s defiantly like a lot of other things most common as you get older and the reason it gets common as you get older is there is obviously a slight falling of testosterone with age so it’s often related to lifestyle deterioration as one gets older, it’s the same as putting weight on around the middle and as weight goes on around the middle this lowers testosterone and they often get into a vicious cycle as the more fat that goes on there lowers testosterone further and also lack of exercise, so once again this is a condition in many men related to lifestyle but it isn’t all that mainly slim men who exercise but it can get it but its commoner with people with poor lifestyle.

Patient Talk – And what are the main causes of TDS and are there other common co-commodities

Dr Doug Savage – Right so we’ve been into that already it often part of lifestyle or poor lifestyle so excess fat particular around the middle , lack of exercise but it’s also associated with typical medical conditions the commonest one being type 2 diabetes and it can occur in about 40% in those patients, its commoner in man with high blood pressure , cardiovascular disease so many who have had heart attacks, it’s also quite common in men with chronic diseases so what we call in nowadays CODP or what the public often call chronic bronchitis, people with poor kidney function and liver function and deterioration, HIV patients and also the thing that people may not be aware of is people who use chronically powerful pain relievers, it can occur there and often missed there because people just think that they feel sleepy because of the medication .

Patient Talk – Ok and what are the treatments of TDS?

Dr Doug Savage – There are many which will obviously will be discussed with the doctor in detail but generally like so many other conditions it starts with lifestyle modification, reducing that weight and increasing exercise but other treatments are several and would be discussed with your physician.

Patient Talk – And how effective are these treatments?

Dr Doug Savage – The great majority of men do improve both with rising level of testosterone and deduction in their symptoms and I would say there is quite a variation in the speed of recovery , you really do you know working as a doctor in this field many years you do get what I call miracle men and you know within two or three weeks they have just transformed, they will often say ‘god I feel 20 years younger ‘ so that’s the dramatic improvement which is unusual to be honest with you it’s generally a more slow improvement over months and for a few people it’s really a long time until they get fully well maybe even a year or so. We have established one of the reasons of that is connected with what we call ‘deficiency of the testosterone sector ‘basically it’s one thing improving the level of testosterone in the blood stream but obviously what matters is how their body uses that testosterone and its now been shown that peoples efficiency various from one person to another which can’t be predicted but I do warn all patient that this may take some time but be patient.

Patient Talk – Ok and what is the general prognosis of TDS and what changes in lifestyle that someone with TDS expect?

Dr Doug Savage – Well its great in the sense of that many patients we see will say ‘ oh I’ve tried this diet , I’ve tried this and I can’t seem to lose weight’ well what is amazing is often it’s a combination of lifestyle intervention so that’s obviously eating more appropriate food and less of it and medical treatment and if you put the two together that often does produce great improvements in symptoms and the waistline and there are definite trails showing that waist measurement can reduce on treatment and indeed in men improvement of a diabetic control for a diabetic, improvement of blood pressure as if they are losing weight than obviously that will improve so a combination of lifestyle and other treatments can have a great response.

Patient Talk – Ok and what advice would you give to someone who has just been diagnosed with TDS?

Dr Doug Savage – Well to follow the doctor’s advice as I said, the problem is as we know we never, patients particularly men are terrible at taking following up appointments, getting blood tests and you know I do feel sorry for patients as like everybody else we have such busy lives and obviously it’s too tempting to not go back for review so it is very important that a patient attends follow up appointments and the appropriate blood tests.

Patient Talk – Ok and where can people go for more information?

Dr Doug Savage – Right well there is a very good website its especially about TDS and that is called www.whatistds.com and they can obviously google TDS deficiency symptoms and there is a lot of information there, there is loads of information out there and that’s one thing men are least good at they are not very good at talking about things but they are very good at doing the research online and there is plenty of information.

Patient Talk – Ok Dr Savage thank you very much.

Leave a comment Posted on January 5, 2016January 4, 2016 Patient Talk, Weight Loss

New Year’s Resolutions – how to make those health resolutions actually stick

Addictions Specialist Mike Delaney shares his tips on how to make your New Year’s resolutions stick and explains why abstinence rarely works

Give up smoking!

If, like so many people, you’ve resolved to stop doing something in the New Year then you might be surprised to learn that only about one in twenty people actually succeed by going cold turkey.

Rather than embarking on a likely doomed strategy of total self-denial, Mike Delaney, a leading authority in the treatment of addictions with over 30 years’ consultancy experience in the UK and internationally, says that you will be far more successful if you introduce substitutes instead of cutting something out altogether.

The all-or-nothing total quitting approach is particularly problematic after the inevitable excesses of the festive period. Cognitive psychologists also don’t like it, as there is no margin between success and failure; one moment of weakness and you’ve “failed”, which can lead to the mentality – “why bother trying again?”

Mike’s top five tips to beat the vicious circle are as follows:

Don’t set your goals too high as you will be setting yourself up to fail; make your resolutions reasonable and achievable and you will have a greater chance of success
Don’t plan too many at once as this is also the road to failure, e.g. trying to stop smoking, lose weight, stop drinking and do more exercise is a huge piece of work to undertake on top of all the other challenges that a new year brings
As they say, “take it one day at a time”; stopping something for 24hrs is easier than thinking you have to do it “forever”
Use all the support you can muster! Family, friends, healthcare professionals and support groups all have a part to play if you use them; it also helps you to stay focused and strong every day
Be kind to yourself and reward success; try putting money away every day that you have managed to save by not indulging in your bad habit; at the end of every week or month that you have achieved success, buy yourself something that you have wanted, treat yourself to a spa weekend etc.

So, whether your habit is eating too much chocolate, drinking too much, or smoking, watch our video to hear Mike explain his top tips on making this year’s resolutions ones you can truly stick to.