Talking sh*t! (and gut health)

July 2, 2017July 2, 2017Leave a comment

So not one of those topics that most people are generally willing to talk about…their gut health!

gut I have recently been doing more research into how your gut microflora (both good and bad bacteria) can effect your mood and I have been pretty shocked about how imbalances within our gut can have a HUGE affect on mental well being! In fact, 95% of seretonin (the happy hormone) is found within the gut and dysbiosis (which is an overgrowth of bad bacteria) can actually negatively impact the signalling of seretonin.

Loads of research is currently being completed on the association between the gut and the brain and I feel over the next few years we will hopefully find out much more about how our gut health can impact of not only our physical, but also mental wellbeing.

Although I haven’t really had a huge issue with my gut, through a free stool test being offered to my University by ‘Regenerus Labs’ I have recently had a more ‘in depth’ (shall we say) overview of how healthy my gut it. I would like to think that my balanced/ varied/ low processed diet would mean that all would be fine with my healthy gut bugs, but I was quite surprised to find that a few of my ‘good bacteria’ strains were lower than normal. One of these bacteria which is lower than normal is Enterococcus which has also been found to produce serotonin!! I am pretty dam happy at the moment but imagine the possibilities if my army of Enterococcus was at full strength! 🙂 🙂

So what am I going to do about this? I am going to continue to eat a wide variety of fruit and vegetables and to keep my intake of sugar as low as possible. I am going to dig out my probiotics from the back of the fridge (my good intentions were short lived when I initially bought them) and try to introduce a variety of fermented foods/ drinks into my diet.

kombucha

Foods such as:

Sauerkraut- fermented cabbage
Kimchi- like sauerkraut but may contain different types of vegetables and often some type of dried or fermented fish product
Kefir- cultured dairy product similar to yogurt
Kombucha- Natural fermented drink

Not only will these fermented foods increase the beneficial microflora in the gut, but as they produce enzymes through the fermentation process, they are extremely helpful for improving nutrient absorption of the foods we eat.

Hopefully with being a little more gut TLC, my beneficial bacteria will be as they should and although the importance of this is still quite a mystery within the scientific world, I am pretty sure that with gut microflora having 150 times as many genes as the human genome (all the genetic information in a person), doing this is going to have a pretty good impact on my physical and mental well being.

Cheers kefir!

Phytonutrients!

April 22, 2017Leave a comment

Before starting my masters I hadn’t heard of these ‘phytonutrients’. I didn’t know about their health boosting effects and how eating them then can help to reduce the risk of chronic diseases and ageing… In fact, it seems with vitamins and minerals getting all the good press these plant based warriors are often brushed to the side when we think about how food can affect our health.

Phytonutrients are the chemicals within plants which give them their amazing colours. There are more than 25000 types of phytonutrients (often with long and complicated names) which may be why in general, we don’t know a huge amount about them. What we do know though is that within plants, phytonutrients are used to protect themselves from germs, fungi, bugs, and other threats. Therefore by eating these plants, it is thought that this ‘protective’ effect can help to reduce the occurrence of diseases in humans and help our bodies to work properly.

Although they are found in fruits and vegetables, phytonutrients are also found in teas, cereals, nuts, coffee, cocoa and wine! Yes!!

Coffee

An amazing coffee shop in Vienna where I had a coffee with raspberry whip!

Resveratrol is the phytonutrient found in red wine and in studies has been found to reduce the development of coronary heart disease as it inhibits the oxidation of low- density lipoproteins (this is a major step in the development of the disease). Human studies looking at resveratrol have also found that resveratrol improved insulin resistance, blood flow, and various cardiovascular events, as well as decreasing oxidative stress and inflammation.

chocolate

Cocoa is filled with the phytonutrient epicatechin which also has loads of different benefits such as improving blood vessel function, blood pressure and decreasing inflammation. In fact, cocoa contains the highest levels of epicatechin compared to any other product with 43000mg/Kg. This is far greater than the second highest provider green tea which contains 8000mg/kg.

So although eat a rainbow of fruit and vegetables will provide you with a variety of health improving phytonutrients, let’s not forget that in moderation, the nicer things in life are also good for us too! So next time you’re treating yourself to a bit of chocolate or a glass of red wine, enjoy it! Smile! And raise a toast to the phytonutrients!

Edible Rainbow Laura

The week in the life of a vegan…

April 17, 20172 Comments

Last week I decided I would trial a vegan diet to try and understand the overall difficulties this way of eating can have. If done correctly, a vegan diet can be filled with a wide range of nutrients as obviously fruit and vegetable intake is much higher than a typical meat- eating diet. However, it can be difficult for strict vegans to get some micro-nutrients into the diet (specifically vitamin B12, vitamin D, calcium and omega 3) and often supplements and fortified foods may be needed to reach optimal health. Becoming vegan is however becoming more popular, especially because as a whole we are becoming more aware of how eating meat can effect our health as well as impacting on the environment. I knew it was going to be a bit of a challenge and although I am quite comfortable in dropping the meat, ditching the dairy was much more difficult than I thought!

My overall observation of being a ‘vegan’ was that planning really was key. My usual routine of chucking a salad together in the morning for lunch wasn’t quite possible without the addition of cheese, tuna or even a boiled egg. I found this issue quite early on (on my first day in fact) when I grabbed what I thought was a bean chilli from the freezer as I didn’t have anything else to take to work. Over lunch however I quickly realised when heating it up was that in fact it was a chicken fajita mix! Oops!! First lesson of the day was to start labelling leftover frozen meals! Especially when shari
ng frozen space with a meat loving male.

After my initial errors I got into the mix of my new vegan lifestyle. I swapped m milk y beloved cow’s milk within my tea for a variety of dairy free milks that I picked up from a range of different shops… I must admit it didn’t quite taste the same and as a tea fiend, I did find that actually rather than battling on through trying to adjust, I found that fruit teas, green tea
and the plain old water stuff was becoming more my drink of choice… maybe this is another way that vegan’s are often given the golden halo of health?!

One thing I did really enjoy was having the opportunity to try out some new recipes. I made some bean stuffed potato skins with homemade guacamole which went down a treat, even if I did have to restart half way through due to a lack of pre-soaking my black beans haha. The organic health store packaging failed to mention that! Doh on my part. Thankfully there was sneaky stash of cannellini beans in the cupboard to save the day.

Other meals included lots of other bean dishes including refried bean, falafel, peppers and avocado wraps, vegetable kebabs, chickpea thai red curry and even a cheeky vege- burger on the bbq on a random warm April evening. I must admit, I did get a little sick of beans but maybe that was because I did base a lot of my meals on them. Thinking back, there are plenty other ways to get protein into a vegan diet including nuts, lentils and seeds. Maybe I needed to branch out a little more and get a little more adventurous!

Made with Square InstaPic

Socially, I did feel slightly awkward with my new found eating habits going out and about with friends. In particular, I knew that going out for lunch with a friend may be difficult as I wasn’t too sure whether I would be able to find anything that would compliment her love of meat alongside my plant based needs. Thankfully I stumbled across an amazing restaurant in Cardiff called ATMA (https://www.facebook.com/cafeatma) where I had a super yummy Indian vegan special dish and my friend was more than happy with her halloumi burger.

indian

Overall, I enjoyed!! It was however much more restrictive then I thought it would be and I sometimes struggled to think of snacks and puddings which weren’t just purely fruit! I guess that might be why vegans notoriuosly have a lower energy intake and lower BMI than meat eaters. What I have learnt though is that I don’t need to rely on meat and dairy so heavily and that actually with a bit of imagination and making time for cooking from fresh, a vegan diet can be full of flavour, colours and nutrients! Maybe it’s not for me as a lifestyle choice but I am definitely now more aware of how much I rely on animals and actually with a few small changes I can not only consume less animal produce I can do my bit to help to reduce emissions through animal farming

🙂

Laura

Hi there!

April 5, 2017April 23, 2017Leave a comment

wedding So the first blog of hopefully many more… An empty page and a brain beaming with ideas can often be a daunting and difficult combination. I guess I should just start with a little about myself!

I am 27 years old. I live in a town within the Welsh Valleys although I am originally from a town just outside of Birmingham. I have a boyfriend, a cat and an obsession with all things food. I also love running about, lifting heavy things, doing yoga and kicking a football about for my local team.

I am currently doing a Nutritional Therapy Masters as I want to share my fascination of how eating the right food can make us feel blummin wonderful! Not only does it do wonders within the gut, it can do miracles to the brain!

I want you to share this journey with me as I continue to learn about food and about how this (and other sneaky things) can help us to have a healthy, happy and harmonic mind. I am hoping I will learn through the process and hopefully you will too 🙂

Thanks for joining me.