Women!: Taking the pill and feeling lethargic?...read on.

Many people report un-wanted side effects from taking the oral contraceptive pill. One thing that quite a few women mention is that they feel tired and lacking in energy a lot of the time. Despite various other factors that can lead to this, your contraceptive pill could be one major factor.  

It has been shown that there is a link between taking the pill and depletion of vitamin B6. Along with the rest of the B-complex vitamins, Vitamin B6 has an important role in the generation of energy in your body. It also helps immune function, protein metabolism and is involved in over 100 enzymatic reactions that take place within the body.

Long term deficiency in B6 can cause lack of energy, depression, decreased brain function and higher levels of homocysteine (linked to heart disease).

Taking oral contraceptives can stem to a whole host of negative effects on the body, depending on the individual, and nutritional supplementation becomes almost a necessity. The B-complex vitamins are water soluble so your body does not store them. This means you need a constant daily supply to keep your levels above that of deficiency. Good sources of B6 include bananas, prunes, tomatoes, avocado, cruciferous vegetables, walnuts and hazelnuts. The average person gets their daily quota of vitamin B6 from their diet but women on the pill may benefit from supplementation too due to the constant depletion of B6.

Be careful with the supplements that you by. Look for timed release vitamin B complexes so the vits are release slowly over time. This allows for maximum absorption and minimal wastage in your (expensive) urine. Also, make sure you take your supplement WITH FOOD always. Look at the list of ingredients of your supplement bottle and make sure there are no artificial ingredients, colours/dyes or preservatives. Poor quality supplements do not provide adequate nutrition. Good quality is more expensive but can you really put a price on your health?

The 6 weeks to OMG diet

I took my once in a blue moon journey on the London underground the other day and past a huge billboard advertising The 6 weeks to ‘OMG’ diet by Venice Fulton. The first thing that annoyed me about this diet was the tag line – ‘get skinnier than your friends’….well that really promotes a healthy attitude doesn’t it Mr Fulton.

                Venice Fulton has a degree in Sports science and has come up with what he classes a great diet plan for people wanting to lose weight. I, on the other hand BEG to differ and just reading about the book is irritating me, let alone even putting myself through the pain of having to read the book itself. So if you have read the book and think it’s the best thing since sliced bread then please do comment, I’d love to hear what the book offers that its explanation doesn’t.

                So to start my rant I’ll just take you through the basic principles of this diet. There are 5 key principles Fulton focuses on:

1. Lose fat

2. Get toned

3. Slim down your thighs

4. Flatten your belly

5. Keep your skin, hair and nails growing

….right so the same as everything else….

Then he also has certain ‘rules’ and ‘theories’ that he bases his diet on

                -Fulton states in his book that ‘carbs are carbs’ and that it doesn’t matter whether you get them from an apple or a slab of chocolate cake. Well, I don’t know where he studied his ‘nutrition’ but he clearly didn’t pay attention during class. I won’t bore you with the science, but take my word for it – that statement is WRONG. I’m not going to insult your intelligence either as I’m sure you didn’t need me to tell you that! Just for the icing on the cake read this other sentence of his- ‘broccoli carbs can be worse than soda carbs’…..I mean SERIOUSLY, is this guy for real!!

                -The book encourages people to take cold baths and showers to lose a few more pounds. He stresses the calorie burning benefit of cold water since your body has to use energy to keep your core body temperature at 37 degrees. Yes your body will use up energy but not anywhere near enough for it to become an effective weight loss method. You’ll find yourself slipping into hyperthermia before you’re slipping into that little black dress.

                - Fulton says that breakfast should not be eaten until you have exercised –read my past blog post on eating before exercise to see how miss guided this is. Again, I feel this statement really promotes an unhealthy attitude to diet, fitness and generally towards your own confidence and self-esteem.

-Readers are encouraged to drink black coffee because of its antioxidants (ok I’ll give you that depending on what type of coffee), zero calories (correct again….doing well…), metabolism stimulating properties (ah damn, and we’re back to the cold shower idea!). Caffeine is a stimulant and will slightly increase your heart rate, depending on how sensitive you are to it. The physiological changes from coffee are not strong enough to make a massive difference in your overall calorie expenditure.  He also promotes coffee drinking as it suppresses your appetite. Again, he steers his readers straight back into such a terrible mind-set.

                -The foods he recommends includes green leafy vegetables, chicken, nuts, lean beef, fish, beans, lentils, brown rice and other fresh vegetables.  

Ok, so in a nutshell this diet has all the makings of a FAD diet – simple food recommendations that comply with healthy eating with a list of random wacky rules that are the only thing that will distinguish it from all the other books out there that essentially offer similar ideas. FAD diets do not work, and that is why there are so many of them out there. If one worked there would be no need for more to be made. Nutrition is simple once you know the rules. There is no ‘secret trick’. It’s all very basic, and the more basic you keep it the easier it is to follow, maintain and enjoy – after all it’s going to be a part of your life, every day, for the rest of your life. Do you really want to be obsessing about the temperature of your shower being too hot or the dash of milk you like to have with your coffee?     

The author of this book has a history of helping athletes and celebrities…not really your ‘average Joe’. Athletes’ lives are ruled by their bodies and how their bodies function. With knowledge of athletes I would have expected Fulton to have a better idea of human physiology and what the body needs in order to function optimally. Maybe it was when he moved his attention to celebrities that his mind ended up in the clouds. Celebrities have to look good and they are under immense pressure to do so. They don’t have the time or the energy to think about their diet so will generally get someone else to do the thinking for them and just do what they tell them to do. So yes- if you lived on black coffee and exercised with no fuel in your body you would lose a stack of weight. But you’d feel like crap all the time and you would be a VERY unhealthy person with an ever diminishing life span to look forward to with brittle bones, illness and disease in your pension fund.

So my advice to you is probably pretty clear –Don’t buy this book! If you’re after healthy eating advice and want a nutrition plan that fits around YOUR lifestyle that you can maintain day-in, day-out then please get in touch and I would be happy to help. I am starting my own experiment to show how a very simple diet plan and training program can get desired results – no airy fairy mumbo jumbo – back to basics. I’ve teamed up with Protégé London’s managing director Lewis Thorneycroft. He’s a top class personal trainer and strength and conditioning coach. With the plans in place the trial will be starting soon. I’ll keep you updated with the results!

Look after yourself with Probiotics

There are hundreds of different species of bacteria living in our gastrointestinal tracts. Your gut bacteria have many more functions than just aiding digestion. They are responsible for triggering immune system reactions throughout the body and will greatly affect overall physical AND mental health. The ‘good’ bacteria in the gut should make up 85% of your intestinal flora, which allows for the remaining 15% to be pathogenic. Over two-thirds of your immune system relies on this make-up. So let me take you through why your body can benefit from adding probiotics into the mix:

-          Enhance immunity.  This is an important point to consider during pregnancy and breast feeding. A mother passes on her intestinal flora to the baby during the birthing process which essentially sets up the baby’s immune system. During breast feeding the mother’s milk will also contain bacteria from the mother. The immune protection of a mother’s milk is greatly enhanced if the mother is taking probiotics to support her own gut flora.

-          Probiotics can help to reverse and ease gut inflammation which is a leading cause of many ailments such as Ulcers, IBS, Crohn’s Disease, Ulcerative Colitis and IBD.

-          Celiac Disease or Gluten Sensitivity symptoms can be eased by adding probiotics.

-          The increase in processed foods and low fibre diets in the modern world allows for an increase in pathogenic bacteria, over taking the good bacteria, which can diminish colon function. Firstly, CUT the processed food and UP the intake of fresh, fibrous fruit and veg, but secondly, add a probiotic to help your stomach recover.

-          If you repeatedly suffer from yeast infections such as Candida, this could be caused by an imbalance in your intestinal flora. Supplementing with probiotics can help to restore your levels of good: bad bacteria.

-          A healthy gut flora could help to prevent cancer by nourishing the enzymes responsible for inhibiting tumour production throughout the body.

-          Modern-day food processing methods such as the use of Genetically Modified Organisms and antibiotics found in non-organic meat and dairy products can strip the gut of its healthy intestinal flora. It is necessary to add probiotics back to your gut if your diet contains food of this nature.

So where do you get your probiotics from?

You can supplement with probiotics in capsule form. Always be prepared to pay higher end for all of your supplements. This particularly applies to probiotics. You need to ensure the protective capsule is strong enough to withstand the acids in your stomach in order for it to reach your intestinal tract where it is needed.

Do not spend countless money on daily probiotic drinks and yogurts. For my research project during my undergraduate degree I worked on the research for Yakult products. I was looking into the effects the product had on the immune response, as the product was making claims that Yakult could help support your immune defences. Well, I found NO significant difference….needless to say the adverts for these products soon changed and now they just use wishy-washy  claims such as, ‘lots inside’ or ‘billions of bacteria in each little bottle’…..well yes, but it goes no further than the bottle!  

Look out for my next blog post where I’ll be going into more detail on how to sort through the millions of probiotics available to find the best product.

An alternative method of taking in probiotics is through fermented foods such as milk kefir and water kefir which can be consumed daily. You can make your own kefir, just order ‘starter grains’ online or check your nearest health food store and then check out YouTube videos that can take through the process every step of the way.

A healthy gut is vitally important to a healthy body. Support yours with a balanced and varied wholefoods diet, regular exercise and a well-planned supplementation routine.

To find out more on supplementation and discuss what YOUR body requires please contact me for a complimentary half hour consultation.