Magnesium and sleep I wanted to shine the spotlight on magnesium today. It’s a really important mineral and one that is ready for the taking in our diets. How can we make sure we eat enough magnesium though and is it a case of more is better? We’ll look at magnesium and sleep, but also it’s many other roles. We have about 30g of magnesium in our body – most of this is in bones, followed by muscle and soft tissue with only 1% found in our fluids as an electrolyte where it helps to control fluid balance. Are we eating enough magnesium? Diet and nutrition survey data shows most women in their 40s ..read more

Stress – Ten top tips using diet and lifestyle to help Stress and diet are often linked together. There’s a lot your diet can do to protect you from the impact of the stress response biologically speaking, as well as to cope with the habits that stressful lives force upon us. Looking at the bigger picture of stress in relation to our diets and what we eat is key. If I told you coffee drinkers live longer, would you pour yourself another cup? It’s true – large observational studies find an association between longevity and coffee. The reason for this link isn’t proven. It could be the polypheno ..read more

Myths and facts about weight gain in menopause The female body is constantly evolving. In pregnancy the body changes shape and form and everyone accepts it as the norm. Similarly, as women approach their perimenopausal years, the body changes again, to adapt to fluctuations in hormones and to meet the demands placed on it. When surrounded by diet culture though, changes in our bodies, especially if they’re related to body size, are less welcome. We spend a disproportionate amount of time thinking about how our body looks, rather than how it actually feels. We get pulled in different directions ..read more

Is there such a thing as the best diet for menopause? If searching for menopause and diet related stuff has led you here, let me first introduce myself. I’m Laura, a registered dietitian. I work with women to help them find clarity and nourishment in what can often be a confusing nutrition landscape. I also happen to be in my 40’s which means the days of running weaning workshops are far behind me and menopause is around the corner. All of the women I work with, have things in common. Many are in their fourth or fifth decades, juggling the many and diverse challenges life throws at them as par ..read more

I became a #Noomer on the 28th December as I embarked on a 14 day free trial. I was intrigued; I had seen adverts everywhere with one clear message: Stop Dieting. Get Life-long results. It lures me in – ‘There’s a reason diets don’t work… find out how long it will take to reach your goal weight…’ What exactly is Noom? It describes itself as an award-winning weight-loss programme. The app uses a combination of psychology, technology and human coaches to help people build sustainable habits and meet their personal health and wellness goals. The founders were driven to create Noom because they we ..read more

The idea that we can throw caution to the wind, indulge but also avoid Christmas weight gain, emerging into January polishing our halo’s is really appealing. You may think, in order to achieve this, I’m going to tell you to eat less mince pies and more satsumas. Well, I’m not because like always, I think there’s more to it than that. Instead, let’s consider the following… What are your expectations about your weight over Christmas? Firstly, it’s worth remembering our body weight will fluctuate across a year and that this is far more normal than maintaining exactly the same weight all the time ..read more

Everyone I work with has their own story. Through The Anchor Programme, we figure out your own food and weight story and help you move forward, with more clarity, confidence and health. The Anchor Programme has been known to be recognised as the therapy you never knew you needed. It is hard to put into words, the progress that you can make, in a relatively short space of time, so I am grateful to this client for doing it for me. This is her story… I had been overweight on and off all my life and was ALWAYS thinking about food. I had tried various diets, plans over the years – Weight Watc ..read more

As we strive to determine where our body weight should sit, how we achieve and maintain weight loss and what control we ultimately have over that, let’s start by being clear about what we know. The role of genetics in weight Various studies have concluded that our weight is 70% determined by our genetics. And this is backed up most convincingly, by identical twins reared apart. So, this suggests there is a small weight range across which our genetics determines we will sit. A bit like your height or shoe size, it’s part of the blueprint we’re born with. We know there are hundreds of genes inv ..read more

I always associate September with WHSmith’s and a new pencil case. I used to love these trips with my Mum. Now I secretly engineer a visit with my children to salivate over the stationery, which I absolutely need obviously. New beginnings and all the freshness they bring, feel great. Just like the ebb and flow of the school calendar, dieting often does the same… Do you notice you have times of the year when you’re more likely to be dieting? Are you a seasonal dieter? Getting ‘beach body ready’ is often a trigger perhaps followed with slight relief that autumn calls for more layers. There’s oft ..read more

Over my career I have seen countless women who have been back to Slimming World countless times. This is not a coincidence that it fails so many, and sadly yo-yoing in weight has been shown to put our health at risk, in itself so it is not ok that slimming clubs will welcome back repeated dieters with their big promises. However, the marketing is very convincing and its no wonder it pulls people in, time and time again. This has prompted me to go behind the scenes of some of the Slimming World statements and tell you what I think you need to know. Firstly, “We’ll motivate and inspire you all ..read more