by Rebecca Prade | Dec 4, 2018 | NUTRITION
We all know that nutrition is fundamental, and what we eat affects our health, but only recently have we begun to question nutrition and the impact of when we eat. Some nutritional scientists believe that when we eat can have a huge impact on our health, with research indicating that the best course of action is to sync our eating patterns with our circadian rhythm. This is our natural cycle of when to wake up, sleep, and eat which our body dictates. Recent studies show that repeated disruption of this rhythm can cause problems with your metabolism, as well as weight gain and disease.
Dr Satchin Panda is a circadian rhythms research expert at the Salk Institute in California. He claims that eating meals in a daily 8-10-hour window, where food is first consumed in the morning and the last of your food in the early evening, can go a long way in improving your metabolic health. You can read more from Dr. Satchin Panda on this in his new book ‘The Circadian Code’. This method is called early time-restricted feeding and was conceived from the logical theory that our digestive systems are primed for food intake in the morning and afternoon, not at 10 o’clock at night. According to Dr Panda’s research, the average person eats over a 15-hour period each day, therefore conflicting with this rhythm.
The hypothalamus of the human brain has a clock in control of our waking and sleeping cycles that is dictated by our exposure to bright light. Every other organ in the body also has its own internal clock that controls its daily cycle. Dr. Panda reveals his insight: “We’ve inhabited this planet for thousands of years, and while many things have changed, there has always been one constant: Every single day the sun rises and at night it falls. We’re designed to have 24-hour rhythms in our physiology and metabolism. These rhythms exist because, just like our brains need to go to sleep each night to repair, reset, and rejuvenate, every organ needs to have downtime to repair and reset as well.”
It is widely believed that it is better for your health to consume the majority of your daily food intake earlier in the day. This is because several studies into this area have shown that control of blood sugar levels is best in the morning and gets worse throughout the day, with the evening being the time when our bodies have the least control. In addition to this, food is digested more efficiently in the morning and more calories are burnt.
Additionally, the lack of sunlight in the evening prompts the brain to release melatonin to prepare us for sleep. If we eat late in the evening, then an opposing signal is sent through the body that it is still daytime, and we should therefore be awake. If this happens repeatedly then the biological clocks of different organs become unsynchronised and everything gets disrupted with potential negative health effects.
If we disrupt the clock in our brain, then fatigue/jet lag-style symptoms kick in; disrupting the clocks of the organs involved in digestion puts an equal strain on these organs and forces them into activity during their natural resting period. This increases the chance of triggering various diseases. Nightwork is linked to heart disease, multiple cancers, obesity, and diabetes, with studies indicating a direct link between circadian disruption and ill health.
Some faculty of the Salk Institute, including Dr. Panda, carried out an experiment in 2012 involving two groups of genetically identical mice who were both given the same amount of the same high-fat, high-sugar foods. However, one group was given constant access to their food while the other was restricted to an 8-hour window each day. The result was that the mice who were unrestricted became overweight and ill, whereas the restricted mice did not, further emphasising the importance of time-restricted feeding and nutrition to good health.
It was this experiment with the mice that inspired Dr Courtney Peterson, a scientist at the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Nutrition Obesity Research Centre, to carry out a similar study in a small group of pre-diabetic men. In stage 1, of the nutrition research, the men ate their meals within a 12-hour window each day for a 5-week period. In stage 2, the same men ate the same meals within a 6-hour window each day (starting in the morning). It is worth noting that the men were given enough food in the study to maintain their weight so that it could be assessed whether there were any health benefits to the early time-restricted feeding independent of weight loss. The outcomes suggested that early time-restricted feeding caused the men to have significantly lower blood pressure, lower insulin levels, lower oxidative stress levels, and reduced hunger at night.
Clearly, there is a body of evidence to suggest that eating earlier in the day is best for our metabolic health and we would benefit from condensing our food intake into a shorter time period where we eat the bulk of it earlier on in the day: more in the morning, less later on. If you want help and support with any aspects of your health, contact Bex here.
by Rebecca Prade | Oct 22, 2018 | WELLBEING
Emotional Intelligence and Your Success
You have probably known someone, maybe a friend or a colleague, who you regard as both intelligent and highly skilled yet for some reason isn’t that successful in life in general. At the other end of the spectrum, you might know someone who is extremely successful, yet you wouldn’t consider them to be the most intelligent or highly skilled. So, what is the reason for their success? What makes people successful in the workplace and in life in general, if it isn’t related to intelligence or skills? Well, it all comes down to something called Emotional Intelligence (EI).
We have all felt at one point or another unwilling slaves to our emotions. Where our emotional response overrules our typical thinking process, and we simply lose control. One of the reasons we react in this way to certain triggers is that we are biologically wired to respond habitually and emotionally to events. This reaction process is linked to the amygdala, the part of the brain that controls our emotional processing.
While not directly linked to the decision-making processes located in the prefrontal cortex, the amygdala can take over in certain decisions with an emotional response. Road rage is a classic example of being caught up in the moment – getting angry or easily offended by other drivers, instead of thinking rationally about the situation and calming yourself down, you get wrapped up in the in the moment and start to plan your revenge on the road. This is an example of emotional hijacking, a situation where emotions overpower our rational thinking.
The amygdala’s action is an emergency override, a fight or flight or freeze survival tactic. It interprets a threat, which in turn provokes an immediate and aggressive reaction and sometimes this emotional hijacking is needed. It works very well for example if we’re being attacked or fleeing a dangerous situation, as we would have encountered often in early human history. However, the majority of the time these days this response is unnecessary. Today, the challenge is learning to manage the amygdala because if it’s out of control you’re likely going to get into trouble.
So what is emotional intelligence and how does it link to success?
The Harvard Business Review defines emotional intelligence as an individual’s ability to accurately recognise, understand and manage their own emotions as well as others. It is the key attribute that distinguishes outstanding performers, and the leading differentiator between employees whose IQ and technical skills are roughly the same.
The concept of EI was first made popular in 1995 by psychologist Dr. Daniel Goleman, in his book ‘Emotional Intelligence’. His research, along with many studies has found that EI is about twice as indicative of success as IQ. IQ once out of school does not predict career success as many might think. Self-awareness, self-regulation, empathy, and social skills all signify EI, and they are what play a vital role in an individual’s success.
EI means you don’t let your emotions rock you so much that you can’t maintain your focus, you sense what other people are feeling, and you put that all together to manage your relationships. That’s what makes people a star in the workplace. This cognitive control from a scientific point of view is the ability to know what your goal is, keep it in mind, and pursue it despite distractions or anything else that happens.
So how do you improve your emotional intelligence?
The good news is emotional intelligence isn’t hardwired into your brain, or genetically predetermined like your eye colour it can be learned and improved upon.
Here are some practical tips for improving your EI:
1. Meditate – Meditation grows the region of the brain responsible for focus and attention. It strengthens the circuitry for the prefrontal cortex and helps you handle the amygdala so you don’t lose control. Studies have shown that meditation can reduce the amygdala response in people who practice mindfulness meditation. It also cultivates your ability to have a preserver perspective and build up your resilience to getting upset.
2. Read more fiction – according to studies at York University and the University of Toronto; ‘individuals who often read fiction appear to be better able to understand other people, empathise with them, and view the world from their perspective.’
3. Play games – playing games allows you to practice cognitive control, which is training your brain to concentrate and focus more. This allows you to tune in to your emotions more.
4. Sleep smart – sleep deprivation affects your emotional intelligence severely, as the part of the brain associated with focus, decision-making, and social control becomes less active.
5. Don’t use your device before bed – laptops, computers, desktops, televisions, smartphones, tablets, etc. The light from these devices, when used at night, suppresses melatonin (sleep hormone) and produces more of the daytime hormone, cortisol, disturbing your night’s sleep.
6. Exercise – there’s a direct correlation between emotional intelligence and the amount of exercise you do. By doing physical activity you become more aware of yourself, especially exercise that deals with your spatial awareness such as working on your balance.
7. Practice delayed gratification – balancing temporary pleasure with long-term goals, allows us to analyse the bigger picture and most importantly our emotions.
8. Practice mindful eating – becoming more aware of your hunger and fullness cues. Pay attention to the process, enjoy your food, and be more in the moment when eating.
9. Self-reflection – emotions give you feedback to help you adapt to your environment, learning to understand and control those through self-reflection creates more control.
10. Observe others – in observing other people we learn a lot about ourselves and our own behaviours, as well as building empathy.
You can clearly see how people with high EI have increased chances of success. If you wish to build your EI to open more doors and boost your success, develop your emotional intelligence by putting these tips into action. See more of our wellbeing blogs to help you achieve balance and harmony in your life.
by Rebecca Prade | Jul 7, 2018 | WELLBEING
Boredom – Why We Should Get Bored More
Boredom and even more boredom..It’s drawing closer to the summer holidays, and if you listen carefully you can hear cries of “Muuuuum… I’m boooored” up and down the country. Most of us have childhood memories of thinking we were bored in the month of August, making our own fun out of treehouses, playing in rivers, and homemade tyre swings. If you look back on those memories with fondness, then it might be time to get bored more. Nowadays we think of boredom as negative, spending endless time scrolling through our phones, playing music, and listening to podcasts in order not to feel bored. But could boredom be good for us? I think so. Here’s why.
Daydreaming
Imagine you’re sitting on the train. Normally, you’d be plugged into your smartphone listening to music, planning what to have for dinner, and texting your friends asking about their day. We occupy our free time with entertainment but at the cost of daydreaming. Daydreaming is something we might overlook as irrelevant, but it contributes to our existence as humans. Just as night dreams are an important part of our sleep cycle, daydreaming plays a key role in our well-being. Scientists have found a correlation between daydreaming and enhanced memory. Not only that but it is thought to increase empathy, focus, and problem-solving ability. You might have heard the famous story that J.K. Rowling thought up the idea of ‘Harry Potter’ whilst daydreaming on a train. This is because indulging in a daydream gives a massive boost to your creativity, as you are allowing your brain ‘free reign’ over thoughts, ideas, and concepts. Would J.K. Rowling have thought up the iconic book series if she had been plugged into a podcast? Maybe not…
Human Interactions
The problem with always being entertained is we forget to interact with the world around us, and that includes the people who occupy it. Whenever you take public transport, everyone around us is looking at their device – it’s rare to see someone without one, and usually it’s because they’ve run the battery flat. This reduces the amount we speak to each other, which is a shame. I’m not saying you try to strike up a conversation with someone you’re squeezed next to on the tube – avoiding eye contact on the London Underground is almost an Olympic sport – but not being stuck to our devices allows for conversations to happen more freely. Next time you’re waiting for a bus or standing in the queue at your favourite coffee shop, try and interact with someone. It can boost brain function and reduce depression – you don’t get those benefits from playing Candy Crush or constantly checking your emails. Allowing yourself to be bored creates room for better conversations to happen more frequently. And who knows, you could meet a new best friend, other half, or potential client for your business…
Relaxation
How often do you relax? I mean really relax, not sit down on the sofa scrolling Instagram and watching television. Proper relaxation is about more than being comfortable, it’s about giving your brain a break from thinking and filling it with information. Being bored lets you relax, as you stop using your brain and allow it a little breather. With recent technological advancements, it’s so easy to fall into the trap of using every waking minute to be productive, but by allowing yourself to be bored you give yourself some time to just chill out. Instead of trying to entertain yourself, let your mind take a wonder. Picture your future, think of your favourite memories, and dream up a delicious meal to make later… your brain will thank you for it, and you’ll feel a lot more centered than if you just spent 20 minutes of your spare time trying to catch up on emails.
“Only boring people get bored…”
It’s the response we used to dread our mothers saying when we complained of having nothing to do, but it’s true. If you’re bored, you make your own fun. You invent games, you think of memories that haven’t crossed your mind in years, and you make plans. Never being bored prevents this from happening, and we tend to rely on the same things to entertain us. Like going back to the same film, same album, or same holiday destination, it stops us from exploring our full potential.
How to Get Bored More
It might seem like a regression for all the industries and pastimes that were created to prevent boredom, but it’s time to get bored. You can achieve boredom very easily – just stop staring at your phone. Instead of plugging in your headphones and tuning into a podcast on your commute, try staring out the window instead. When you’re at home, have some set time that’s dedicated to daydreaming, and sit on your sofa without the distraction of television.
Of course, getting bored to boost your creativity is just one aspect of having a healthy lifestyle. Achieving balance and well-being comes in many forms, from eating nourishing foods to sleeping well, and everything in between. If you’d like to find out more about how you can be the best version of yourself, click here to get in touch and arrange a chat.
by Rebecca Prade | Jun 21, 2018 | NUTRITION
Most of us grew up being told that foods like red meat, eggs, and bacon raise cholesterol levels. This idea that saturated fat and cholesterol are bad for you and contribute to heart disease is so deeply ingrained in our cultural psyche that few people even question it. But is it really true?
It all started with Ancel Keys and his “Seven Countries” study (1958), where his research found a significant association between fat and saturated fat intake and heart disease mortality. Keys managed to implant his idea into the American Heart Association and, in 1961, the first-ever guidelines calling for Americans to cut back on saturated fats, as the best way to fight heart disease were published. The US government adopted this view in 1977 and the rest of the world followed. But the evidence backing these guidelines was weak and researchers such as Yerushalmey and Hilleboe (1957) pointed out that if 21 other countries were included in Key’s study, the association he observed was weak at best.
Our dietary guidance has followed Keys’ view for 50 years now. And yet despite half a billion pounds spent trying to prove his hypothesis, the evidence of its health benefits has never been produced. In fact, what the research conducted over the last 30 or so years does reveal is that there is no evidence to say that the consumption of saturated fats causes heart attacks or strokes. The research actually shows that low-carbohydrate diets are significantly more effective at lowering incidences of heart attacks or strokes than low-fat diets. And yet, the government’s dietary recommendations have barely changed.
So the guidelines were changed to recommend a lower fat, higher carbohydrate diet – grains, pasta, rice, and potatoes replaced meat, cheese, and eggs on our dinner plates. Breakfasts of eggs and bacon ceded to bowls of cereal and orange juice. And as a consequence, we British now eat 46 percent less saturated fat than we did in 1975 and UK authorities recommend that two-thirds of calories should come from carbohydrates. And as a consequence, we are the fattest we have ever been!
The problem with this recommendation, as researchers have suggested since the 1950s, is that carbohydrates are uniquely fattening. When eaten, the body is stimulated to release insulin, which turns out to be very efficient at storing away fat. As well we have fructose, the main sugar in fruit, causing the liver to generate triglycerides and other lipids in the blood. Excessive carbohydrates lead not only to obesity but also, over time, to Type 2 diabetes and, very likely, heart disease.
A 2010 study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (1) found that when you replace saturated fat with a higher carbohydrate intake, particularly refined carbohydrates, you exacerbate insulin resistance and obesity, increase triglycerides and small LDL particles, and reduce beneficial HDL cholesterol. The authors state that dietary efforts to improve your cardiovascular disease risk should primarily emphasise the limitation of refined carbohydrate intake and weight reduction.
The best possible science from the past decade now indicates that too many carbohydrates overall – even of the supposedly healthy, whole-grain kind – increase the risk of these diseases compared with a diet low in carbohydrates. In other words, too much whole-grain cereal for breakfast and whole-grain pasta for dinner, with fruit snacks in between, add up to a less healthy diet than one of eggs and sausage, followed by fish.
If this isn’t enough to convince you here are some more reasons you should be eating more fat.
Healthier skin
The body needs healthy fats, including saturated fats, monounsaturated fats, and Omega-3 fats, to regenerate skin tissue, and it’s these fats that are the preferred building blocks in the body.
Immune health
Saturated fats found in butter and coconut oil (myristic acid and lauric acid) play key roles in immune health. Loss of sufficient saturated fatty acids in the white blood cells hampers their ability to recognize and destroy foreign invaders, such as viruses, bacteria, and fungi.
Liver health
Adding saturated fat to the diet has been shown in medical research to encourage the liver cells to dump their fat content. Clearing fat from the liver is the critical first step to calling a halt to fat storage. Additionally, saturated fat has been shown to protect the liver from the toxic effects of alcohol and medications, including Paracetamol and other drugs commonly used for pain and even to reverse damage once it has occurred. Since the liver is the lynchpin of a healthy metabolism, anything that is good for the liver is good for getting rid of fat around the middle. Polyunsaturated vegetable oils do not offer this protection.
Fat for weight-loss
Fat does not make you fat and all calories are not created the same! The theory that all calories have the same impact on your weight and metabolism remains one of the most persistent nutrition myths out there. For example, calories from a cinnamon bun are different from calories from an avocado in how they affect your hormones, your metabolism, and even your appetite.
Kevin Hall, from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), studies mathematical systems and biology. He found that eating more fat shuts off your brain’s hunger and craving centers and that eating healthy fats improves food intake, taste preferences, and metabolism. This has also been shown in human experiments, where those who ate high-fat diets had a much faster metabolism. Low-fat, high-carb diets spiked insulin, subsequently slowing metabolism and storing belly fat. The higher-fat diet group had a faster metabolism, even eating the same number of calories (2).
Here’s your takeaway:
- Focus on healthy fats such as avocados, extra virgin olive oil, coconut oil, butter, ghee, nuts and seeds, eggs, grass-fed meat, wild oily fish, full fat (preferably organic dairy if you tolerate it), and dark chocolate. Yay!
- Avoid all polyunsaturated vegetable oils such as canola oil, sunflower oil, corn oil, soybean oil, and safflower oil. All restaurants will use industrial vegetable seed oils. These cause inflammation in the body.
- Avoid all manufactured trans fats such as margarine and processed shop-bought foods like cakes, biscuits, crackers, crisps, and all deep-fat fried foods. These fats are oxidised, cause inflammation, and are toxic to the body.
- Limit your consumption of carbohydrates, especially refined and processed types, and focus more on vegetables, clean protein, and healthy fats!
There is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to nutrition recommendations. Everybody is different and your physical activity level and individual nutritional needs will dictate the amount of carbohydrate you need each day to function at your optimum level. If you would like help to lose weight or just want to fine-tune your diet, don’t hesitate to contact me here for a bespoke nutrition consultation.
References:
1. Siri-Tarino, P; Sun, Q; Hu, F et al. Saturated fat, carbohydrate, and cardiovascular disease. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2010, 91 (3), pp 502–509, https://doi.org/10.3945/ajcn.2008.26285
- H. Sherman, Y. Genzer, R. Cohen, N. Chapnik, Z. Madar, O. Froy. A timed high-fat diet resets circadian metabolism and prevents obesity. The FASEB Journal, 2012; 26 (8): 3493 DOI: 10.1096/fj.12-208868
by Rebecca Prade | May 24, 2018 | WELLBEING
Happiness, Should We All Strive to be Happy All the Time?
Ask anyone what they want in life, and amongst wealth and health, the word happiness will spring up. Once our basic needs are met, happiness is a universal goal for humans. We want to feel pleased, we want to smile and laugh, and we want to be stress-free. What causes happiness can mean different things to different people. Some people feel that contentedness with their body image equates to happiness, while others define it as spending time with loved ones. There’s no one ‘happiness recipe’ that suits everyone. As a planet, we are becoming increasingly obsessed with the need to be happy. But is it something we should really strive for? Let’s find out by looking at both sides of the argument.
Yes
In the ‘yes’ corner, there are people who argue that since we can universally agree that happiness feels good, we should all be striving towards it. Who wouldn’t want to feel happy all the time? It doesn’t matter if happiness to you is eating six meals a day or spending six hours exploring the outdoors – if it makes you feel good, do it. Your happy mood can have a positive impact on those around you, so you’d be boosting the mood of other people as well. Also on this hedonistic side of the story, people claim that positive thinking can have a huge impact on our wellbeing.
Not only do negative thoughts and emotions make us feel bad, but dwelling on them can make problems worse. This is not just an old wives’ tale. Researchers have explored the power of positive thinking and findings have linked it to lower stress levels, greater resistance to the common cold, and increased lifespan (The Mayo Clinic, 2017). This suggests that positive thinking and aiming to always be happy can be beneficial for our health and mental state of mind.
However, there are some people who would disagree that we should strive to be happy all the time.
No
On the opposite side of the fence, there are people who disregard the idea that you should strive to be happy all the time. After all, as humans, we react to our environment. If bad things are happening to us – as they do to everyone – it’s only normal that you should react to this by displaying negative emotions. To hide them would go against human nature.
People on this side of the argument think that having a range of emotions is part of life. Think back to the last time you were truly happy. Now, think back to the last time you were deeply sad. Consider how different these emotions are, and how you are able to explore a range of feelings. We’ve all heard about the yin and yang philosophy in life – the shadow can’t exist without the light. If you were happy all the time, you wouldn’t have anything to compare it to, and you would become so accustomed to it that you wouldn’t appreciate it. Not to mention, striving for happiness could isolate those people who are unable to achieve this goal, due to mental illness or external factors affecting their mood.
People against the strive would also argue that what makes us happy isn’t always the best thing for us, especially in the long term. For example, you might decide that true happiness is eating an entire vanilla cheesecake and washing it down with a bottle of rose every evening. While this can cause short-term happiness, long-term it can cause all kinds of problems.
Meeting in the Middle
There is a lot to be said for positive thinking. It can improve our physical and psychological state of mind, and it’s true that happiness is infectious. For some people, being a ray of sunshine in other’s lives is what brings them happiness, and if you’re able to be truly content all the time, that is fantastic. Others struggle to constantly be happy – we’re only human after all – and the pressure of always striving to be a positive person can cause further stress. As humans, we can get anxious if we are failing to meet society’s standards, and striving to be constantly happy feeds into that, which can be psychologically damaging.
I believe that while it’s important to do what makes you happy and aim to display a little positivity, you have to experience a range of emotions. If you’ve had a bad day, if you feel anxious, if life’s getting you down… that’s okay. Instead of striving to live in a constant state of happiness, try to accept that you will feel good and bad at different times, and know that when you’re feeling sad you will feel happy again. Doing exercise, spending time with those you love, and doing selfless things for other people all play a part in improving your mood.
Living a healthy lifestyle is a major factor in being happy, but this doesn’t mean you should starve yourself or live solely off foods you dislike in order to boost your mood. If you need help creating a healthy diet and lifestyle plan, or just a little boost in the right direction, I’m here to help. Click here to get in contact.
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