How to get a good nights sleep. March Wellbeing article
For more details pick up a copy in and around Eastbourne or go on line at www.wellbeingmagazine.co.uk for my tips on how to get a good nights sleep!
Kate Arnold Nutrition
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Hydrogen Breath Tests
Recently I’ve seen an increased demand for lactose and fructose breath tests. This is often a cause of IBS, and due to funding and access, can be almost impossible to obtain from the NHS. These together with tests for SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth) may go some way to excluding the causes of your IBS. I’ve recently teamed up with Dr Adam Harris, Consultant Gastroenterologist in Tunbridge Wells and will be seeing patients one day a week for an IBD/IBS clinic. The details are as follows:
Wednesday 2-7pm
Warwick Park Consulting Rooms
72 Warwick Road
Tunbridge Wells
Kent TN2 5EF
For details or to make an appointment please call my phone number 01323 737814.
Time…. to save our pubs
I don’t often hit the supermarket shelf with the really really cheap booze but I did the other day. 500ml cider for 99 pence. 250ml lager for 45 pence. This is at the heart of the argument to save our pubs. Cheap supermarket alcohol will take people into their homes where they can drink to access with no one any the wiser. Drink in a pub, there is some licence – the landlord is not meant to serve you if you are dribbling and swaying, you don’t drink so much because it is expensive and you are hopefully with friends and being social. As we know pubs have been in serious trouble for years – 4 pubs a day are going out of business – thats making serious inroads in breaking down our communities. We have two major options, cheap booze in supermarkets goes.. pronto.. or the price of alcohol in pubs comes down…
Frozen food – the new “black” !
Frozen food is back in fashion and as a huge fan I couldn’t be happier. We tend to think of canned and frozen food as inferior to fresh, but often its not and in the age of speed we can’t always be expected to cook from fresh every night. None of the nutrients and flavour are lost so its a win, win situation!
In my freezer my staple frozens are: squash, peas (I get through bags of these – so useful for pretty much every dish from stews to pasta), stock, spinach, berries, herbs and mango sorbet. The squash is particularly good for a quick soup and saves with the chainsawing through fresh squash. Check out some of these ideas, all of which I’ve tried:
Waitrose frozen Yorkshire Batter mix with free range eggs (a bit lazy I admit but it does contain free range eggs!).
Pea and Asparagus Risotto – the rice separated well, just as it said.
Frozen puff pastry – great for making a quick tart.
Don’t forget rice – yes it can be frozen and its very useful.
Lastly frozen fish – so much cheaper than fresh and still great quality.
Waitrose vrs Sainsburys
I had to do a big weekly shop over the weekend and I knew it was going to be costly as I had to get those extras like shampoo etc – in other words the cupboards were bare! I shopped at Waitrose. I love shopping there – there are friendly, polite and have an amazing variety of food, especially specialist breads. Sainsburys used to be like that but recently I’ve noticed that if I’m recommending a particular bread, Sainsburys never have it, Waitrose always do. Its not just that, its that the shop is smaller and easy to navigate. The bill came to £69.16. Not great. I looked at my trolley – there were a combination of organic produce and their essential range. So I came home and did a duplicate shop on line at Sainsburys to see if Waitrose really are expensive. The Sainsburys shop was £69.49 -33 pence more expensive. I have to say I was really shocked but felt quite smug. I’ve said all along that Waitrose is not nearly as dear as everyone thinks. What does make the difference I think is special offers and the one product that screamed out at me was organic apples – Sainsburys £2.20 and Waitrose £2.49 – quite a difference but despite that Waitrose still came out cheaper, and I come out of the shop always smiling and calm!
Peddling snake oil? – nutrition in the media
As some of you may be aware after reading the Which? article and today’s Daily Mail, nutritional therapists have been undergoing a bit of a bashing recently. I could write about this point all day and possibly get nowhere, so what I will say is this.
Those of you who read my blog (and the numbers are amazing! – thanks guys!) know that on a yearly basis I write about what I do, what I dont do, what I cant do and what I shouldnt do. There is a clear line in the sand about my role which I adhere to strictly and over the years I think clients have been quite amazed at how involved I get with their GP’s.
If you are thinking of getting nutritional advice, make sure whoever you are seeing is well qualified, and until regulation is really sorted which may take a couple of years, make sure this person who you are intrusting with your health is qualified. By that I mean at least three years of training, a BSc or an MSc. Listen to your gut. If the consultation is going into the hundreds of pounds and you are being sold loads of supplements, you are clearly not with the right person. Unfortunately what has happened is that although the majority of BANT members are highly trained and skilled the governing body can include members who practice other forms of alternative medicine, or you have not been through rigorous training. In my opinion you cannot be a jack of all trades. These people should not be a part of BANT, and let’s hope in the next year that tighter stricter regulations evolve. It is time that BANT was more regulated and I for one, welome this and I do not want to be boxed in with charlatans and quacks.
Keeping your GP in the loop, and making sure you have been to your GP first to rule out any serious disease is paramount. If that is not happening, again be very cautious. I have a strict policy of not seeing anyone until they have seen their GP. Let me colour this whole issue with an example:
Last year I saw a lady who had been told she had the breast cancer gene (BRCA1 and BRCA2). When I asked her what her doctor had suggested she said ” oh no, I havent seen my GP, I was told by xxxxxx”. I probed again, “So do you have the blood results with you?”, “Oh no” she said “it was done on a vega machine”. I was apoplectic with rage for this client of mine, and called her GP up at once, talked it through with him. He was most helpful and saw my client the next day and ran a blood test. The test was negative. My client had been so scared and frightened of this so called “diagnosis” that she wasn’t even going to tell her GP. Whoever this person was, should be struck off from whatever body they are a member, and never allowed to practice again, but I suspect they are still going, still peddling their ludicrous nonsense on the back of holding a rod. This story is not uncommon.
This makes me sad and angry. Firstly because nearly 20 years ago I was one of those sick people, who went from quack to quack who sold me miracles, who saw my desperation, who watched me part with my sickness benefit with no qualms. I remember ending up in Amersham on some Star Trek nonsense machine that made me feel so ill, I had to call an ambulance in the car on the way home as I collapsed – the bill £250. Secondly, when people are highly trained and doing amazing work on the cutting edge of science they should be celebrated not lambasted and mocked like witches waiting to be dunked. This brings me to the Which? report – a greatly flawed and biased article as is the Daily Mail who are not exactly known for their intelligent balanced journalism. However the issues raised were valid.
There is a place for all of us to work for the benefit of our clients/patients. The bond that brings us together is surely our desire for people to get better. I haven’t taken the hippocratic oath but having been so ill, I couldn’t be more empathetic if I tried. I’d like to think I advise all the people I see like I would my family. This recent media row should not pit dietician against nutritionist – we both have valid places and slots to fill. There are incompetant doctors, nurses, plumbers, dentists, solicitors and yes nutritional therapists as well. Yes lets flush them all out and make what we have… the very very best. I hope this resolves itself soon as the health of the nation and the individual is paramount. Let’s keep what really matters as our focus for the future.
“Food Rules” by Michael Pollan – RSA/Nominet Trust competition
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What’s causing your IBS?
If you have recently been diagnosed with IBS and dont’ know where to turn – there is so much more you can do. Before you start on your gluten free, wheat free, dairy free… basically food free (!) diet you will need to dig deeper. This is not the way forward. You need to find the underlying cause of why you are symptomatic, rather than living on ricecakes (which are high GI foods which can cause more gas and bloating in the bowel).
Diet is not necessarily the first thing you need to change – you might need further tests – these may include stool testing for gut flora levels and parasite infections, lactose intolerance, fructose intolerance and SIBO (Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth). After finding out the underlying cause, then you can adjust your diet accordingly. Confused? Don’t be – give me a call and I can talk you through it – 01323 737814.
Burgerking (cont. cont. cont.)
It’s been nearly 2 months since I first called Burgerking and asked them for a list of ingredients of their foods. We are still no nearer to that – I will keep you posted. Do you not find this is the slightest bit odd?! Great nutritional information on their website, but and its a huge BUT, no one gets to know what they are eating! They seem to be so behind in their thinking. We don’t need to know the calorific intake of foods any more – it doesnt make the slightest bit of difference to obesity. One calorie in does not equal one calorie out – there are biochemical issues involved ie what you do with that one calorie is not the same as your neighbour. What we actually eat is more important and how we digest and assimilate food is the key. I can’t believe that I’m actually going to defend MacDonalds but at least you know what you are eating as they certainly list their ingredients!
Operation Hospital Food with James Martin
There’s so much to say about this programme I don’t know where to start. Firstly nutrition in hospitals is scandalous full stop. To not put the money there seems so insane to me that you wonder who are running these places. Surely you want to get people up on their feet and home as quickly as possible so don’t they think that great food might just take them there that bit quicker? It’s not just about morale – many do get people to bring in food, it’s about the repair of the body – you need to feed it… and not with slop. Also don’t get me wrong there are great SRD’s but even James Martin raised an eyebrow when the catering manager showed him the hospitals larder “And the hospital dietician has ok’ed all this” he says as he picks up packet soups and Angel Delight… I mean come on….. seriously… the custard is glow in the dark – who is saying this is fit for human consumption? So what these inpatients are getting is literally heated/reheated to an inch of its life, additive laden, nutrient free slop.. not fit for the farmyard. And the amount of waste…. Thank god we were then taken to The Brompton hospital in London. The hospital has a great reputation anyway for its lung and heart expertise. Here we saw not only fresh but organic food being served up to patients all within budget because their restaurant was used as an income – genius – all profits got ploughed back into the kitchens where they sourced local produce. Its not rocket science is it? If one hospital can do this, this should be a roll out blueprint for ALL hospitals. So Eastbourne DGH take note – your food is not great… lead my example.
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