Scientific studies however, have revealed that this is perhaps a little “too good to be true”. For example, Omega 3 – the substitute capsule that promises to deliver a daily dose of essential fatty acids as well as an alternative to fish. Its purpose is a preventative measure to help ward-off heart diseases and improve overall health. Recent evidence on both men and women of different health status’ and ages shows that Omega 3 supplements have little or no effect on the prevention of heart disease.

It is a similar story when it comes to multivitamins. Taking lots of different vitamins at once can actually end up being more harmful to our health. One major factor to consider is the importance of the biological and chemical reaction that different foods have on each other. Most nutrients do not work alone, they interact, they can cancel one another out, and work in unison through different metabolic pathways.

One of the main reasons why food is always preferable to supplements is that food is a mixture of nutrients that have evolved naturally to work within our bodies.

An example of this is Folate and Vitamin B12. This is one of nutrition’s formidable forces. They work together to assist some of the most fundamental processes of cell division and replication. Folate, one of the eight B-vitamins, is dependent on B12 to be absorbed, stored, and metabolised. Although they need one another to work, they are not from the same food sources. Folate occurs naturally in plant sources, such as, green leafy vegetables, beans and legumes. B12 is found in meat, eggs, milk and other animal sources.

It’s not what we eat, but more how we eat that is important. Unfortunately, there is no so-called “quick fix” to keeping our bodies working optimally. Do supplements really work? We’re not saying that supplements categorically WILL NOT work, as there are some studies that indicate positive reactions. Supplements are just not as reliable and effective as food and everyone can have a different reaction to them, if any at all.

In our opinion and also a number of scientist’s opinions, food is a much more reliable and effective choice when considering how to improve our health and well-being.

If you’re not satisfied with your diet, you feel tired and lethargic more often or you’re struggling to lose / gain weight, get in touch with us using our FREE online service. You can ask us for a little nutritional advice and see if we can help!

Food to avoid

Foods that cause blood sugar levels to spike cause a brief but intense feeling of euphoria, followed by an energy slump, often having a negative effect on our mood, energy levels and sleep. This is why when we consume our favourite chocolate bar, pack of sweets or fizzy drink, we initially feel great and then fall into a lull. This is one of the most common reason’s for lack of productivity and motivation in the workplace.

Depending on where we work and the hours we work, eating healthily can seem a little more difficult and we tend to comfort eat.

The foods to avoid if we have a low mood, have trouble sleeping or have poor energy levels are refined sugary foods, such as, cakes, sweets, pasties, pastries, crisps, biscuits, white pasta, white rice and sugary cereals.

The above foods are digested quickly and then the glucose surges into our blood stream causing a peak of energy, and often change in mood. However, this doesn’t last long and our blood sugars start to drop quickly which causes our bodies to have an energy slump.

Food that’s good for our mood

What we ideally need is slow release energy foods, such as, nuts, seeds, brown rice and pasta, lots of vegetables, lentils and pulses.

These foods digest at a slower rate, resulting in a more balanced release of energy. If we can manage to add a portion of one or two of these in our meals to create a plate full of slow-release high fibres, this will help improve our energy levels, sleep quality and mood. Here are 9 more foods that are good for our health.

Did you know…

Serotonin is a feel-good Neurotransmitter found in the brain that is directly linked to our gut! In fact, up to 90% of serotonin comes from the gut! What does this mean? Our gut health (which is determined by the foods we consume) is one of the biggest factors for how we feel mentally.

We have a specific amino acid (Tryptophan) that is converted into Serotonin and travels from our gut to our brain. There is scientific evidence to suggest that depleted levels of Tryptophan have a negative effect on mood, depression and anxiety.

Foods with a high Tryptophan levels

Nuts, seeds, lentils, beans, oats, tofu, fish, turkey, eggs and dairy foods.

What depletes serotonin?

Nicotine, drugs, alcohol, sugar, sweeteners, poor diet and prolonged stress.

This in no way suggests that just eating healthier alone will reverse depression, however food that’s good for our mood should not be ignored as they do have an impact.

If you would like any advice or have any questions, please feel free to get in touch with our Nutritional Therapist using our free online service, here.

Focus less on how much we eat and focus more on what we eat. Here’s a deliciously healthy Homemade Frittata recipe from our very own nutritional therapist, Amy, that you can try for yourself!

Protein packed ✅ 
Gluten free ✅
Vegetarian ✅
Breakfast lunch or dinner ✅
Feeds up to 4 ✅

Firstly, it is crucial that there is variety in their meals – different foods have different vitamins and minerals. The ‘5 a day’ was introduced to help people get enough vitamins and minerals into their body and gain the benefits in doing so. The beauty of fruit and vegetables are that they are colourful and children will respond better to foods that are bright. You can teach them that the colour is also a good way of knowing which benefits you can get from each item. For example, orange coloured vegetables, such as, pumpkin, sweet potato, red pepper and carrots are high in beta-carotene which is essential for your eyesight.

The term ‘Brain Food’ is exactly that. Anything from the concentration of your child, to their fatigue level can be affected by the food you give them. For example, blueberries help improve their memory, tomato antioxidants protect brain cells, broccoli contains high levels of vitamin K which helps mental thinking, while beetroot boots brain power by increasing blood flow to the brain and sweet potatoes contain vitamin B-6, carbohydrates and antioxidants that are crucial for the brain to function healthily.

One thing to be aware of is that some fruits and vegetables are better eaten raw, while others are best eaten cooked to get the most nutrients from them. For example, Beetroot, broccoli, onions and red/green peppers are best eaten raw, whereas, asparagus, mushrooms, spinach and tomatoes are best eaten cooked.

It is important to remember to balance your child’s diet with carbohydrates in order for them to have energy. There are some healthy carbohydrates that give plenty of energy. Breakfast cereals that contain whole grains are a great start to the day for children – as long as they don’t have a lot of refined sugars – along with brown rice, sweet/jacket potatoes, whole grain pasta, beans, and whole oats.

A popular way to get children to eat their 5 a day is by making it exciting for them. Try creating a wall chart where they can tick off each portion they have had that day, and at the end of the week there is a reward when they have managed 5 a day, every day.

Some ideas to try…

• Start every day with a glass of fresh fruit/vegetable juice
• Fruit smoothies make great snacks – blend fruits with frozen berries and apple juice
• Sprinkle raisins or chopped banana (or both!) on your breakfast cereal
• Mix tinned sweetcorn into your tuna for sandwiches or in with a pasta
• Vegetable soup with added lentils or beans
• Try baked sweet potato wedges or jacket potatoes rather than white potato
• Give them raisins, dried apricots and banana chips as an afternoon snack
• Chopped raw vegetables (celery/carrot/cherries) with a dip, such as, hummus or with guacamole
• Serve your pasta with a vegetable based sauce, such as, ratatouille, tomato, onion or garlic and herb sauce
• Add a tin of tomatoes to your spaghetti bolognaise
• Instead of mash potato, try cauliflower/parsnip mash
• Try getting them to snack on fruit
• Have fruit based desserts –such as strawberries and cream, rhubarb crumble, baked apple and raisons, fruit salad and yogurt
• Baked beans are often popular with children
• Remove the hard core and stalks from cauliflower and mix in a blender to create cauliflower rice

We have our own Nutritional Therapist, Sarah Garton, who is happy to help with any queries you may have. Call us on 01282 453 110 to book in with a specialist.

The time spent off the bike recovering is as vital to any rider as the time spent training. If you miss the opportunity to repair muscle damage, you can be left with more than just aching legs.

Recovery has increasingly become a focus of science in sport. We treat so many patients that have over trained and haven’t recovered properly. Their form gets worse and it becomes a vicious circle – it is so easy to think that because of a dip in form, you must train harder. This is the mistake. This method can quite easily cause or aggravate an injury.

Muscles don’t behave normally when they’re tired. If you’re tired, you often over compensate other areas to make up for other muscles. This is when you can aggravate or even cause damage elsewhere.

The reality is, fitting training around an ordinary lifestyle makes you naturally more susceptible to injury. Often we don’t allow correct recovery times and methods because we have other responsibilities. The chances are, if you are a competitive cyclist with a busy social/work lifestyle, you will have already experienced more than one symptom of “over-training”.

There are many tricks that we can use along the way, in an attempt to help recover.

Nutrition is key and can have a direct effect on muscle soreness. Here are a list of useful nutritional tips, all aimed at helping recovery:

• Cherry juice has a high antioxidant potency, along with its anti-inflammatory properties, making it beneficial. It has also been found to have notable benefits on muscle damage. It’s been shown to reduce muscle pain and reduce loss of strength over several days of intensive training.
• Beetroot juice can boost your stamina and VO2max owing to high levels of nitrate. Some are even calling it the new EPO.
• Watermelon is high is glycogen replenishment, something your muscles cells rely heavy on after exercise. Its high water content will also rehydrate you and replenish electrolytes.
• Fish contains oils that can have a notable effect on recovery. The omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids are able to increase the oxygen intake of damaged muscles and generally lower fatigue.
• While professional supplements are more likely to provide the correct ratios of carbohydrates and proteins, standard supermarket milk has often been found to be similarly effective.
• Fresh tropical fruits such as pineapples, passion fruits and mangos are known to have anti-inflammatory and antioxidant potency to reduce muscle damage after a session.
• Tablets containing supplementary antioxidants and vitamins can help the recovery process when used alongside a healthy diet. The antioxidants can help counter the muscle damaging effects of free radicals produced during exercise.

Sleep is also another successful way to recover, with Olympic silver medallist, Rob Hayles, admitting to sleeping well over 12 hours a night. Many Professional cyclists are now looking toward sleep for marginal gains. Team Sky opt to take all their athletes’ beds on tour with them when they compete.

For the average person, we lead busy lives. Therefore, it is important to think less about fitting training around work, and more about fitting life around recovery. If you have a busy life, train less.

Myth 1: All carbs make us fat.

Carb intake is essential, yet carbs coming from grains are not essential for everyone. This one really is an individual matter – and for certain people taking grains out can be extremely helpful. A combination of low GI carbs and protein can be a great weight loss strategy.

Myth 2: You shouldn’t eat after 7pm as food is stored as fat.

It’s the amount of calories we use up that is one determinant of weight – it doesn’t matter what time of the day we eat them. In fact, quite frequently I recommend a pre-bed snack for clients to encourage healthy sleeping patterns. (However, there are many other reasons for difficulty in losing weight which are a separate issue from calorie intake).

Myth 3: Bread causes bloating.

Bloating has many, many causes, one of which can be intolerance to gluten. It is important to start looking for the cause of bloating either with your GP or a nutritionist so it can be addressed correctly.

An exclusion diet can often help if you suspect bread to be the cause. However, there are some excellent tests available which can help identify other factors. For example, immune response to gluten, bowel symptoms, poor levels of digestive enzymes, imbalanced gut microbes or an inflammatory response. Gluten sensitivity is often a symptom of one of these underlying factors. It is often worth further investigation.

Myth 4: Frequently eating small meals throughout the day can increase your metabolism and help you to lose weight.

Increasing muscle mass is the best way to speed up metabolism. However, whilst eating more frequently may not increase metabolism, in certain people it can be really helpful for weight loss. Eating regular combination of nutrients can stabilise blood sugar levels. This significantly reduces cravings and ultimately reduces your calorie intake, particularly of sugary food.

Myth 5: You need to include dairy foods in your diet to get enough calcium.

Dairy foods aren’t eaten in the East, and yet it’s rare to see calcium deficiency related disease in these cultures. Conversely, calcium metabolism illnesses are more prevalent in the West, which has a much higher calcium intake in general. Vitamin D levels and magnesium intake are important for correct metabolism of calcium – and often, it is not calcium intake which is a problem, but body levels of these other nutrients which impact.

We really don’t need to rely on dairy for calcium. Green leafy vegetables are a fantastic source, and they also contain high levels of magnesium to help us use calcium correctly, whereas dairy contains little magnesium.

Myth 6: Foods naturally high in cholesterol such as eggs can raise blood cholesterol, increasing your risk of heart disease.

Yes indeed, previous advice about eggs has been retracted regarding cholesterol. In fact, eggs contain lecithin, which helps us remove cholesterol from the body by forming bile. Eggs are in fact encouraged as an excellent source of protein, which is important for weight loss.

In general, cholesterol levels tend to be raised by other factors, such as stress levels (all our stress hormones have cholesterol as a pre-hormone), sugar intake and a lack of fibre in the diet.

Myth 7: Raw food diets are better for your health as they’re rich in enzymes that are essential for healthy digestion.

Raw food diets are indeed nutritious, nut are not essential. So long as we have a healthy balance of nutrients, we are able to make our own enzymes. However, our capacity will be limited if we have other factors in our lives which affect body processes, such as stress, caffeine/alcohol/nicotine intakes or nutrient deficiencies.

Myth 8: It’s saturated fat in the diet that increases cholesterol and leads to heart disease.

Absolutely true! Dietary fat has had a bad press for decades, but actually fat is essential in the diet (within reason!). It’s the high sugar and white carbohydrate intakes which are problematic – and these are often high in the “low fat” alternatives available.