Nutrition Advice

Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) – Is it safe?

melaniebryant02@gmail.com (Melanie Bryant) — Wed, 22 Sep 2021 09:09:13 GMT

What you need to know

Menopause is a naturally occurring transitional period for women, usually occurring at the mean age of 50 years and 9 months for women in the UK, as a result of ovarian follicular activity ceasing, after which, reproduction can no longer take place . The transition period from reproductive life into non-reproductive life, is known as perimenopause. This is a stage of strong fluctuations in estradiol, also known as oestrogen, and progesterone, the sex hormones, resulting in both physical and psychological symptoms that can affect a woman’s quality of life . The average timespan of menopause transition, going from reproductive to perimenopause through to post menopause, the stage where periods have ceased for more than 12 months, can be from 4 years upwards.

During these transitional stages, symptoms such as hot flushes, sleep disturbances, night sweats and vaginal dryness are all commonly reported, with symptoms lasting 4-5 years . Other symptoms can include fatigue, depression, memory loss, headaches, joint pains, sexual dysfunction, and weight gain all of which can have a big impact on a women’s quality of life and career.

One of the most prescribed treatments for menopause symptoms is Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) such as estradiol and progestogen, which is made up of conjugated equine oestrogens, effective in relieving moderate to severe vasomotor symptoms. However, concerns arose surrounding HRT after the Collaborative Group on Hormonal Factors (CG) (1997) study, found that the risk of breast cancer increases with use of HRT. Subsequently, the Writing Group for the Women’s Health Initiative Investigators (WHI) (2002) who originally planned to study the benefits and risks of HRT using estradiol and progestin, the synthetic form of progestogen, using a randomised controlled trial of 16608 women, stopped the trial after 5 years due to concerns arising around an increased risk of developing breast cancer. It was determined that the risk outweighed the benefits, and therefore the study was discontinued.

The Million Women Study Collaborators (MWS) (2003) reaffirmed these results after finding a significantly increased risk of fatal breast cancer with combined HRT. Not only does HRT pose a significant risk to breast cancer, but also to cardiovascular events as a result of HRT causing C-reactive proteins levels to increase, leading to increased inflammation in women taking oral HRT, including pulmonary embolism, stroke and coronary heart disease. As a result, many clinicians stopped prescribing HRT and some women, already prescribed HRT, discontinued taking it. Since then, there has been an increased interest in alternative hormone treatments for menopause symptoms (which we will look at separately), however, to this day, HRT still remains the most effective treatment of menopause symptoms.

Considering this, Pines et al., 2008 after considering the findings from the Women’s Health Institute in 2002, discovered that the negative slant adopted as a result of the early termination of this trial, does not reflect the positive results of HRT recorded for healthy women in early post menopause, which showed that HRT is safe for healthy women at this stage of menopause. Additionally, Caufriez in 2007 found that the risks associated with HRT were higher with oral estrogen and progestin compounds, but relatively safe in most post menopausal women with a combination of transdermal estradiol and micronized progesterone.

Therefore, this decision is not one to be taken lightly, it involves discussions with your GP and should include any previous history (including family history) of cancers and the types of HRT currently available, weighed up against the impact of symptoms themselves.

Why we need carbohydrates

melaniebryant02@gmail.com (Melanie Bryant) — Tue, 21 Sep 2021 20:37:57 GMT

Carbohydrates Explained

Your body NEEDS fuel to provide you with the energy you need to carry out your daily routine. The main energy source for the human body is glucose. Glucose comes from the break down of carbohydrates that we ingest.

WE NEED CARBOHYDRATES! Unless you follow a Keto diet, or have been recommended to avoid carbs by a dietician, you should not avoid carbohydrates in your diet.

However, you can choose healthy carbohydrates, such as: Brown rice, whole-wheat pasta, wholegrain breads, oats, beans, pulses and fruit as these provide much needed vitamins and minerals as well as energy.

Carbohydrates Carbs on the go:

Struggling with time or choices on what to eat?

Why not try:

Breakfast:

Porridge Overnight oats (prepared in advance) Homemade fruit smoothies Fruit such as bananas, apples, grapes, berries with yoghurt Dried fruits Wholegrain toast

Lunch:

Rice, such as: Uncle bens wholegrain rice pots, which can be flavoured, or make your own rice adding vegetables and lean meats (remember to refrigerate any left over rice asap to avoid food poisoning). The same can be done with whole-wheat pasta. Wholegrain crackers Fruit

Dinner:

Opt for boiled rice as opposed to fried rice if eating out. Sweet potatoes or Jacket potato as opposed to chips. Tomato based pasta's as opposed to cream based.The body content of your post goes here. To edit this text, click on it and delete this default text and start typing your own or paste your own from a different source.

Fats – the good,the bad & the ugly

melaniebryant02@gmail.com (Melanie Bryant) — Mon, 20 Sep 2021 19:36:43 GMT

Why do we need fats?

Fats are an essential part of our diet, supporting the growth of cells, protecting our vital organs, assisting in the movement and absorption of many nutrients as well as keeping us warm and providing us with energy.

So, why all the bad press?
Because fat has an equal amount of negative impacts to our body as it does positive. In fact, excess fat consumption, can lead to high cholesterol, weight gain and many health problems including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, coronary heart disease to name
but a few.

Making the best choices:
This short guide, will help you to understand which fats are good for you, which are more harmful and how much you should be eating.

Types of Fat

Recommendations
The current recommendations are for the average man to consume no more than 97g of fat per day, of which you should limit saturated fat to no more than 30g a day.

How to achieve this:

When cooking in fats, choose healthier oils such as Olive Oil, Sunflower or Vegetable Oil, Coconut oil, Avocado oil.
If you are needing to use butter, opt for grass fed raw butter or nut butters.
Healthy fats that are present in foods such as: Nuts; Fish such as sardines, salmon, krill and Avocado. These should be enjoyed in moderation.
Fish should be consumed no more than 3 times per week.

When buying food from shops, be aware of the traffic light labelling which indicates how much fat is in the food that you are buying.

Portion Sizes!

melaniebryant02@gmail.com (Melanie Bryant) — Mon, 20 Sep 2021 19:11:44 GMT

Understanding Portion Sizes

Portion sizes have been influenced throughout generations and continue to grow larger. But do you know why?

Years ago, before we were over taken by technology, family mealtimes were the most important time of the day. The mother of the house, shopped, planned and cooked feasts to fulfil the family who toiled the lands, providing enough food to sustain long hard days of manual labour. It showed appreciation and love!

Food was looked at in terms of wealth, it was a way of showing off ‘to eat like kings’ and have so much food in your belly that you would sit back after a meal, rub your overly stretched stomach with glee and promptly fall asleep contented.

But as times moved on, our family sizes continued to grow, money became harder to come by and food became a challenge. Food was first come, first served, once it was gone, it was gone! Siblings would compete to eat as much as they could as they didn’t know when their next meal was coming. Think of the times of rationing, there was no way that you would leave a single morsel on your plate. You weren’t fussy, you would eat whatever you could.

But then the confusion began. Rationing and hardship went away and we were able to be more extravagant. We were able to fill plates with what we wanted and we opted for foods that we craved and enjoyed (we will look at this further in a bit), but still there was this habit that we picked up through generations that told us not to leave food on the plate, and so we ate more. We stretched our stomachs so that more food was needed to fulfil us.

Restaurants and food retailers picked up on this trend and began up-selling. I was a bit peckish and fancied a sandwich and now I am being told that I can get a fizzy drink, crisps and a chocolate bar as a meal deal at a bargain price … and who can turn down a bargain? Restaurants offer a menu, but the waitress will always ask if you want bread to start or any sides to go with that meal … and have you seen the size of the plates?!

So, we need to understand why we do this …

Dopamine is an important hormone and chemical transmitter in the brain and body. It releases happy hormones and is important in reward-motivated behaviour, therefore being a big contributary factor in helping to create habits. Foods such as chocolate and dairy products result in a dopamine response making us want more and inducing cravings.

However, physical activity also induces dopamine, it gives us that happy feeling after we have exercised so it is not all negative, we can crave what is good for us also.

Creating fat cells is something many of us try to avoid. However, by eating larger portions, that is exactly what we are doing, stretching our stomachs so that we can consume more and we are not utilising the calories that we are eating. These fat cells all call to the brain to be fed, therefore the more fat cells that we have, the more food we need to eat before we can feel full. Therefore, when you see someone that is overweight eating large portions, this is often because they need too! The good news is, these fat cells can shrink, we just need to stop feeding them. But importantly, when looking at your nutrition, this is not about starving ourselves, it is about listening to our bodies, eating the correct foods that we need to fuel ourselves, reducing excessive portion sizes but often by eating at regular intervals and retraining our brains.

I agree, when we are hungry, eating a carrot stick is not going to do it for us, however, a chocolate bar or a piece of cheese will. There is a reason for this, the fat within these foods coats our tongue and our palette leaving a longer lasting enjoyment. Therefore when we are looking at our nutrition, we are often looking at eating more food, getting that longer lasting feel, but eating the right foods, with the right amount of macronutrients that we can utilise by our body and eating less saturated fat which smothers our organs and accumulates around our stomach and hips and leads to significant health related conditions.

To lose weight:

You must expend (burn) more calories than you eat.

Nb. You burn calories just by breathing, your organs going about their daily routine to keep you alive (known as your basal metabolic rate) so you need to have your starting point of understanding what your own individual daily calorie burn is before you add on calories burnt through physical activity.

To gain weight:

You must eat more calories than you burn

Nb. The same basal metabolic rate understanding applies here, and it is important to know your goal. If you are wanting to gain muscle mass and not just increase body weight, you still don’t want to be eating saturated fats, so you will need to consult your own individualised plan for the increased levels of macronutrients.

Tips:

If you are reducing portion sizes, it is handier to use a smaller size plate as it tricks your mind in to feeling that you have fulfilled your taught habits to clear your plate.
Measure your portions. Never stop using your measuring guidelines as you will eventually start increasing your portion sizes without realising it.
Snacking is not a bad thing, your body needs it! Just choose healthier low fat snacks.
Meal prep – this is key! There is nothing worse than feeling hungry and having nothing healthy to go to and instead reaching for the biscuit jar.
It is not necessary to restrict your whole family. However, teaching your family and children to choose healthy option is always a good thing, re-create their habits so that they can also live a healthier life. However, life is always going to be filled with temptation, having food for others in the house means that you just need to learn quicker how to overcome your cravings!

Healthy Eating doesnt have to be a Chore!

melaniebryant02@gmail.com (Melanie Bryant) — Fri, 19 Jun 2020 12:39:40 GMT

My Story

When I was 24 years old, I was diagnosed with Crohns disease. I was told at the time that I would not be able to eat vegetables, or pretty much anything healthy. Its only been the last 5 years that, having spoken to a nutritionist, I have changed my diet and am now vegetarian! This inspired me, I have always been interested in cooking, and decided to study nutrition at University, (there are a lot of people out there that will claim to be nutritionists but do not actually have the qualifications). I am now a qualified nutritionist and want to share my passion and help people who have struggled with weight issues, or simply want to change their lifestyle to become healthier. There are so many illnesses that can be linked to a poor diet, and making changes can significantly reduce the chances of being exposed to these illnesses, but also make you have more energy and feel better in yourself.