Nutrition

Good nutrition is all about strategies for eating well, making realistic changes that will get lasting results. No quick fixes, no fad diets, no supplements to buy, just real, healthy food choices that will fit in with your lifestyle. As part of your initial consultation, we will look into your diet and how we can start to make changes to help you achieve your goals.
From then I will ask you to keep a weekly food, mood and exercise/activity diary and offer realistic changes, keeping it to 2 or 3 ideas each week, adding up to big changes in the long run that you will be able to stick to.

For weight loss goals:
A study published in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine, concluded that keeping a food diary can double weight loss as part of a managed programme; they said the more food records they kept, the more weight the participants lost.

For strength or endurance goals:
One size does not fit all, and for some, it’s all about having the right nutrition for gaining muscle strength, or to train for a marathon. Writing it all down makes us so much more aware of how nutrition affects the body and performance. Here’s some great simple rules to follow:

Rule 1:
Eat mostly plants, especially leaves. Aim to get at least 5 portions/handfuls a day (400g).

Rule 2:
Eat a rainbow of colours. This way you will get the benefit of all the different nutrients reflected in the colours of many vegetables and fruit.

Rule 3:
Don’t drink your calories. Make water your main drink and aim to get in 6-8 glasses a day.

Rule 4:
Eat protein with every meal. This will give you steady sustained energy.

Rule 5:
Limit refined foods and grains. Eat whole grains and brown rice for more nutrients, fibre and steady release energy.

Rule 6:
Avoid ‘diet’ foods and drinks. Keep away from artificial sweeteners.

Rule 7:
Don’t eat anything with more than five ingredients, or ingredients that you can’t pronounce.

Rule 8:
Limit snacks to fruits, vegetables and nuts.

Rule 9:
Don’t go food shopping when you are hungry. The snacks and confectionery aisle becomes too tempting.

Rule 10:
When you do shop, go with a list and shop mainly on the perimeter of the store where you will find all the fresh produce.

Rule 11:
Allow yourself a ‘treat’ meal once a week. That way nothing is off the menu and we won’t feel like we are missing out. This is a lifestyle, not a short term diet.

Rule 12:
If you want to eat junk food, make it and cook it yourself. Home-made burgers, pizzas and even ice-cream tastes so good.

If you would like a free consultation to find out how I may help you with your health and fitness goals, please get in touch. Click here to contact me to ask about a free consult and taster session. (click here)