I recently wrote about whether or not we should all be avoiding gluten. If you missed it, you can find it here – I knew this would be a topic that a lot of people have questions about.

But today I write about the next piece of the puzzle, I wanted to talk dairy.

Gluten and dairy are two of the common foods that are often eliminated when someone has digestive issues. They are the main two foods, along with sugar and alcohol, that I ask my client’s to eliminate when they follow my gut reset protocol (others can be eggs, legumes, shellfish and seafood).

Just like gluten, reactions to dairy can vary depending on the person and what is going on inside the donut hole. So again, I’d like to clear a little bit of that up and explain my stance on dairy in the diet.

An important thing to remember is that to make information easy to understand, at times I have to over-simplify and generalise. When I work with my clients, I have the opportunity to know more about them, their health history, current habits, medications, stress levels, likes, dislikes, budget and goals. All of this is considered when making a final recommendation.

Lactose Intolerance

One of the common issues with dairy is lactose intolerance. Lactose is the sugar molecule found in dairy. Intolerance is due to the inability to digest lactose due to an inability to produce lactase, the enzyme for lactose digestion. This means that undigested lactose passes to the colon where it can cause bloating, diarrhoea, nausea and gas.

Lactose intolerance is not an immune mediated response to dairy. Failure to digest lactose can be due to:

• genetics, where no lactose is made from birth
• Poor enzyme production which occurs with age
• Inflammation and damage to the small intestine as we may see in dysbiosis, for example, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth.

Poor tolerance of lactose may therefore stem from the common triggers of dysbiosis; poor diet, stress, alcohol, infections, medications, antibiotics, oral contraceptive pill etc.

If lactose intolerance is not genetic, it could potentially be reverse or improved by re-establishing the bacterial balance within the gut and supporting with digestive enzymes including lactase.

Immune-Mediated Reactions (Dairy Sensitivity)

It is important at this point to understand that dairy is made up not only of the sugar component, lactose, but also protein components such as whey and casein and fat components.

It is typically the lactose which may cause problems with intolerance and casein (and sometimes whey) which may be the culprit in immune mediated reactions to dairy.

Immune mediated reactions are reactions which happen in the blood stream. In other words, not in the donut hole.

In order for an immune mediated reaction to occur the intestinal membrane must be leaky. A leaky gut allows proteins to pass into the blood stream.

A leaky gut is associated with dysbiosis and inflammation.

Therefore, immune mediated reactions to casein or whey, require an imbalanced gut.

Therefore, these reactions are a symptoms of the problem, not the problem itself. 

The real problem is an imbalanced digestive system.

Immune mediated reactions to dairy may only be temporary, provided we can rebalance the gut environment, reduce inflammation and heal to gut wall (easier said than done).

How would you know you are reacting to dairy?

Apart from experiencing obvious digestive symptoms after consumption, immune mediated reactions to any foods, not just dairy, may also be responsible for extra-intestinal symptoms, systemic symptoms associated with inflammation.

• Joints that ache
• Auto-immune conditions
• PMS
• Hormone imbalances
• Skin complaints
• Asthma
• Anxiety, depression, changes in mood
• Non-specific symptoms like foggy brain or fatigue

Although testing is available, the most reliable (and cost effective) assessment is a trial removal for 4 weeks during which you apply the principles of the 5 R Program (Remove, replace, reinoculated, repair, rebalance), and then reintroduce dairy to note any return of symptoms.

It is important to understand that not all dairy products are made equal:

• Butter, ghee and double cream may contain minimal amounts of dairy proteins and sugars and may well be tolerated
• Hard cheese may be higher in dairy proteins and fats and contain minimal lactose
• Softer cheeses, milk and yoghurts may be higher in lactose
• Fermented yoghurts and milk kefir may be lower in lactose and therefore tolerate

Therefore, when reintroducing dairy products I always recommend this is done in a structured way to assess what “class” of dairy could still be included in the diet.

Reactions to dairy do not necessarily means that dairy needs to be excluded life long.

Working on digestive health and establishing which forms of dairy work best for your body, may mean that you can safely reintroduce dairy back into your diet. For the most part, this rests on restoring digestive balance:

• Optimising the balance of bacteria in the gut: probiotics, fermented foods and a diverse plant based diet
• Ensuring healthy gut membranes: bone broths, vitamin A, D, E and L-glutamine
• Minimising inflammation: omega 3 fatty acids, vitamin A, D E, diverse plant based diet, turmeric, ginger, bromelain
• Ensuring a positive gut immune system: probiotics, saccharomyces boullardi, prebiotic fibre, vitamin A, zinc carnosine, L-glutamine, colostrum, stress management

Other Considerations on Dairy

Gut health aside, one of the concerns with dairy is the Insulin-Like-Growth-Factors and in some cases hormones that may be found in non-organic produce. I usually recommend clients who are experiencing any hormone imbalances, including acne, to be mindful of their dairy intake irrespective of gut health.

In this case, choosing organic dairy where ever possible should be high on the priority list and perhaps not relying too heavily of dairy as a staple, but finding alternative foods to meet their need.

Concerns About Calcium

The concern for many when it comes to avoiding dairy is calcium intake. Many people perceive dairy to be the best source of calcium in the diet, which isn’t actually true.

The following foods all contain more calcium per 100g than the equivalent amount (100ml) of milk.

In mg/100g:

Kelp 1093

Collard Greens 250

Kale 249

Turnips 246

Almonds 234

Parsley 203

Brazil nuts 186

Watercress 151

Sunflower seeds 120

Eating 100g of kale per day, would give approximately the same amount of calcium per day as a 250ml glass of milk.

My Personal Stance on Dairy

At home, we tend to keep dairy to a minimum. The main reason being we choose to get our calories from sources that offer better nutrition (more nutrients for calorie content) and I do have some hormonal symptoms I manage through diet – more information on how I do this in my Happy Hormones Ebook. 

I personally don’t drink milk or eat yoghurt. I use nut milks to add to smoothies and coffee.

We do take dairy in small amounts from organic butter, feta cheese and parmesan. We usually go through a 100-200g bar of feta cheese and 50-100g of parmesan per week between two.

Butter seems to last for ever as the primary added fat in my diet is olive oil due to it’s health benefits. At times I also use coconut oil for cooking and other seed oils like avocado or walnut.

I do use an organic whey protein from Pulsin in my smoothies on a weekly basis.

I often recommend to clients they switch up their protein powders, for example, use a rice protein for a week, then a whey protein for a week, then a pea protein for a week and so on.

I must admit, despite my best efforts, this is something I have struggled to do myself because I just love the taste and texture of the Pulsin Whey.

However, more recently I have switched to an unflavoured Beef protein from Bulk Powders which has been an ample substitute. This has mostly been motivated by some digestive issues which I have been having (I intend to share more on this soon).

I run a small Online Women’s Weight Loss Program that offer a personalised nutrition and exercise support to produce life changing and life-lasting results.

If you want to give up the guessing game and have someone just tell you what to do and hold you accountable to actually doing it then this is probably exactly what you have been waiting for.

Life doesn’t get better by chance, it gets better by choice. Now you have a moment where you can choose to take a step towards a very different future and join the community of like minded women who are not just losing weight, but transforming their lives, filling them with happiness and health.

To find out more about how my coaching program can help you, please fill out the application below to book a complimentary breakthrough call and find out out about working with me in more detail.

I am wrapping up the final couple of weeks of the digestive health series. Over the past 5 weeks I’ve written to my mailing list about the link between digestive health and systemic health, specifically weight.

Gluten is obviously a hot topic when it comes to digestive health.

When I completed my first degree in Nutritional Therapy in 2009 there was limited research out there on gluten and gut health. Now this is the biggest booming area of research and there are new studies being published every day.

So, I hope you will appreciate that this is a massive topic and I am really just trying to wittle it down to simple basics, that our easy for the general public to understand and most importantly, implement, so that it actually makes a difference!

Over the course of this series we looked at sensitivities and intolerances. Sensitivities are immune mediated reactions to food and intolerances are “in the gut” (aka inside the hole of the donut) reactions.

Reactions to gluten can happen due to either, for different reasons.

When most people think of gluten they think of Celiac Disease.

Celiac disease is an autoimmune condition where the body produces anti-bodies to gluten (found in gluten containing grains; wheat, rye, barley spelt etc.), specifically the gliadin protein found in gluten. Classic symptoms include gastrointestinal problems such as chronic diarrhoea, abdominal distention and malabsorption resulting in nutrient defiencies (calcium, vitamin D, Iron, Zinc, Selenium & Copper) and weight loss and fatigue.

Diagnosis for celiac is based on the following:

• IgA and TTG Antibodies
• Deaminated antigliadin IgA
• Total IgA
• Anti-endomysial Antibodies

And the confirmation with biopsy.

Finally, with auto-immunity there are usually 3 things that are required. A genetic predisposition and an environment which loads the gun and a trigger which sets the immune system off.

Celiac disease is associated with HLA DQ2 and DQ8 genotypes.

Celiac patients tend to have one or both of these genes, however, having one of both of these does not mean you may every present with celiac disease, but given the right environment and triggers, you might.

By environment and triggers we would be looking at anything that disrupts the balance within the body and the gut specifically; a diet high in processed carbohydrates, low in fibre, alcohol, medications, antibiotics, NSAIDS, Oral Contraceptive Pill, Stress, Infections etc.

All of these things can set the stage for poor digestive health, and with it, provided you have the genotype, you could develop celiac disease.

[As a side note: I often see people on Facebook complaining that they are being asked to eat gluten by their doctor to be tested for celiac.  A work around, if you know you feel better without gluten and don’t want to eat it again before testing, is to opt for the HLA DQ2 and 8 testing.

This will indicate a genetic predisposition to celiac and if you have this gene. GI symptoms AND feel better off gluten, you tell me what you think?

Personally I would much rather at this point be investing time money and energy into establishing what’s going on in your gut via a stool test than bothering with a celiac diagonsis. The reason being you can rebalance as much damage as possible to ensure good absorption of nutrients and less inflammation]

However, some people do not have HLA DQ2 or DQ8 and yet they know, they just feel better when they don’t eat gluten. What is that about?

A few things…

Firstly, many gluten containing foods are also high FODMAP foods. FODMAP stands for Fructose, Oligosaccharides, Disaccharides, Monoamines and Polyols. No you can see why we just call these foods FODMAPS!

FODMAPS are types of foods which are highly susceptible for fermentation in the upper GI tract, especially when there is bacterial overgrowth, and can therefore cause symptoms like gas, bloating, constipation diarrhoea, stomach pains and pretty much all the symptoms we would associate with IBS.

Therefore, even if you aren’t a celiac, but you have some imbalances in the GI tract (created by the same environmental triggers as already discussed), you may be affected by FODMAPS and therefore think that it is a gluten problem, when it’s more of a dysbiosis and FODMAP problem.

In this case, following a 5 R protocol  to rebalance the bacteria and removing FODMAPS in the short term (not a life long requirement), may mean you can still eat small amounts of gluten in your diet in the future.

Rebalancing the gut flora and healing the gut is important in this case.

Then we have NCGS.

Non-Celiac-Gluten-Sensitivity

There isn’t really a good test for diagnosing this. But what we might find is someone just feels better off gluten when all celiac tests (listed above) come back negative.

Often, NCGS is associated with systemic symptoms:

• Joints that ache
• Auto-immune conditions
• PMS
• Hormone imbalances
• Skin complaints
• Asthma
• Anxiety, depression, changes in mood
• Non-specific symptoms like foggy brain or fatigue
• And so on…

When gluten is removed from the diet, the person feels better.

When they add gluten back in, the person feels worse.

The best test for NCGS is exactly that, remove gluten from your diet for 28 days. 

Preferably in this time do some of the 5R steps to rebalance the gut, or address any underlying imbalanced revealed after stool testing.

The re-introduce gluten and see how you do.

If you notice anything change systemically, I guess then you decide if it’s worth it to keep it in your diet or not.

What is my opinion on gluten and what do I tell my clients to do?

Well, if budget was no issue I would advise everyone to get a stool test. Literally as I was writing this I was emailed the results of my own stool test which I just did on myself. So interesting and it has definitely given me some stuff I need to address.

Stool testing doesn’t necessarily give you information about how your body will handle gluten in the long term, but it can show you what environmental triggers are out of whack, which, if you rebalance them, may give you a better chance of including gluten in your diet and not reacting to it, provided you are not celiac.

If budget is an issue then I think a 28 day elimination of gluten can be a good thing to do at some point in time, just to see.

I have a gut reset protocol which I use with my clients and tweak it according to the person, sometimes it also includes giving up dairy and FODMAPS and we add supplements as appropriate.

Many of my clients find they lose weight really effectively when following this protocol and of course, notice positive changes in digestion and health. This is one of my clients who was working with me to lose weight and improve her digestion, after years and years of problems.

What is my personal approach to gluten in my own diet?

I have personally done two gluten tests in the past couple of years. One was a test offered by Cyrex which tested 20 different proteins associated with wheat and gluten. All came back negative.

My most recent stool test showed a normal Anti-Gliadin IgA.

Despite both of these normal results I still personally follow what I term a “Gluten Light” diet. What this means to me is I don’t buy gluten containing foods at home.

95% of our meals are made from whole and single ingredient foods. The other 5% being chocolate, cheese, edamame noodles and the occasional bolognaise sauce from Mr Organic

But if I go out for breakfast and I have a piece of toast with my eggs and avocado, it’s not a problem. If I fancy a cake, I often choose the gluten free option, but if it’s not available or there is something else I prefer, I have that. I enjoy the bread and olive oil if we go out for dinner (which isn’t often).

So I mostly stay gluten free and don’t sweat the small stuff.

I also work on creating that beneficial internal environment – fermented foods, anti-inflammatory herbs and spices, colourful veggies, chewing and stress management and self care!

So I know this has been a little long today, but these was a lot to cover and I hope you enjoyed the read and it’s given you some food for though (excuse the pun), when it comes to your thoughts and relationship with gluten.

If you are interested in both losing weight and restoring your digestive health, well, you know where I am!

I run a small Online Women’s Weight Loss Program that offer a personalised nutrition and exercise support to produce life changing and life-lasting results.

If you want to give up the guessing game and have someone just tell you what to do and hold you accountable to actually doing it then this is probably exactly what you have been waiting for.

Life doesn’t get better by chance, it gets better by choice. Now is a time where you can choose to take a step towards a very different future and join the community of like minded women who are not just losing weight, but transforming their lives. 

To find out more about how my coaching program can help you, please fill out the application below to book a complimentary breakthrough call and find out out about working with me in more detail.

I stood in front of the fridge downing a glass of grape juice. I don’t know how many glasses of grape juice I had had that day, but it was a few.

It was day 3 of my 5 day detox and I was only allowed to drink the juice of one fruit of my choice for a whole day. I had noticed that I was less bloated and my legs looked slimmer and I certainly felt very virtuous having committed to only eating fruits and vegetables the past 2 days.

But apart from that, I can’t say it was really that useful.

I was 17 at the time.  I didn’t know any better.

I was literally just following the instructions from a book that I bought at the local book store.

Sure I felt good about myself now but this approach to eating was not going to really make any significant impact on my health or weight. I wasn’t creating sustainable habits that would last me a lifetime.

I had no exit strategy.

In fact, by the following week I would be doing as I always did.

It would probably take me another 13 years, 3 degrees and countless continuing professional development and self experimentation before I actually worked out what a healthy balanced diet and relationship with food looked like for me and what I want my body to be able to do.

In November I wrote a series on balancing hormones naturally. You’ll find most of this series on the blog. I actually wrote this blog about detoxification at the time and yet it seems very fitting that I should bring it back to life this time of year.

Detoxification is something that so many people get so wrong. 

It’s that time of year where the health industry will be trying to sell you the idea of a “detox” or a “cleanse”.

No matter who is selling it to you, these tend to be the common ingredients:

• Low calorie
• Low protein & fat
• Likely to lack solids or large amounts of liquids – juices/smoothies/soups
• May involve shakes, pills or supplements
• May involve missing meals or fasting

I wanted to set the record straight and talk about why this approach may actually hinder detoxification, not support it and then, we can look at solutions to set you up for an awesome 2017!

Ditch the Detox Reason 1: Low Calorie Diets

Low calorie diets are a fantastic way to drop weight quickly. That includes water and muscle weight too.

You may feel great because you feel “like it is working” but perhaps you also feel not so great because your energy is low and cravings are through the roof! Restrictive behaviour is likely to create hunger, excessive hunger is likely to create binge behaviour.

Binge behaviour is likely to create self-loathing and lowered self esteem.

Additionally, calorie restriction is a stress on the body. Under-eating is the biggest stress that we faced as man-kind before we learnt how to farm. I would also add that detoxification is incredibly energetically expensive. You need to have energy to be able to detoxify. That isn’t going to happen if you are starving.

I understand that you might be keen to drop a few pounds  and feel less bloated after Christmas. However, I would like to warn you that I have worked with so many women who are creating problems by their dieting behaviour in a pursuit for some self imposed body composition standard or magical number on the scale (and failing miserably!)

I prefer to get my client’s to lose weight in small energy deficits. This means that there is adequate energy for detoxification, hormonal balance, repair and recovery, good sleep and just every day living but, weight loss can still happen, just not at a million miles an hour (which increases the chances that it will actually stay off!).

Ditch the Detox Reason 2: Low Protein & Fat

We need to have enough fat in our diet to supply the building blocks for health hormonal balance, managing inflammation, making neurotransmitters, cell membranes and many other functions. 

Dropping calories by cutting fat may set us up for health imbalances, if not now, but in the future.

Additionally, proteins are used to make enzymes.

We need enzymes to be able to detoxify.

Detoxification is taking something that is not useful to the body or needs to be recycled, changing it’s chemical structure and composition so that it can be excreted and then excreting it.  ENZYMES do the changing chemical structure bit. Without them, you can’t do detoxification.

We get protein from our food, or we break down muscle tissue or gut lining or joint tissue or other fun stuff that you probably don’t want to be getting rid of, to supply it.

A low protein approach to detoxification just doesn’t work.

The final thing is, if you take out protein and you take out fat, that just leaves you with a pile of carbs.

Most women I work with have weight to lose. Having the majority of your diet from unopposed carbs (even if it is fruit and veg), is going to raise insulin and in doing so, potentially increase central weight gain.

Finally, fructose, the sugar found in fruit, is processed in the liver, as is any excess sugar that isn’t stored in muscle tissue. If the liver is busy processing all these fruit sugars and carbohydrates this will distract it from doing it’s other job, which is to detoxify.

Bottom line: A diet with balanced macros nutrients (proteins, carbs and fats) is for the most part beneficial compared to demonising one or any particular nutrient. In other words; when in doubt, go for balance.

Simple but effective.

Ditch the Detox Reason 3: Liquid Meals & Fasting

Now, liquid meals can actually be really great at times.

If you have digestive problems, having food which is already “chewed” so to speak, can be really helpful.

It ensures you have something that is easy on the digestive system and may help with nutrient availability.

However, living off liquid meals, especially if low in fat, protein (as already discussed) & fibre may have a negative impact on insulin levels meaning that you are more likely to crave sugar, gain weight around your mid-section and experience hormonal disruption. 

Solids keep you fuller for longer.

Protein, fat and fibre do too.

Many people claim they feel “better” on a detox diet but is it because they are detoxing or is it because their digestion is working better?

When digestion is off, it is a huge drain on our immune system, selfishly pulling energy away from our brain.

So would we benefit from perhaps doing a “digestive reset” (something I advise all my clients to do), instead of a detox diet?

The next piece of the puzzle is fasting or missing meals.

Again, this is something that does have it’s place from time to time. I DO recommend:

• a reduced meal frequency: 2-3 meals per day instead of 3 main meals and snacks
• time restricted feeding: not eating very early and very late but allowing at least 12 hours between dinner and breakfast

But…

This approach should NOT be combined with low calorie, low protein, low fat or liquid only diets.

Ditch the Detox Reason 4: Shakes, Supplements and Pills

Someone selling you some sort of product without talking to you about your current diet, your sleep, your stress, your exercise, your digestion and your ability to self care is just selling your something!

Supplements are what they say on the tin…

SUPPLEMENT-ARY to a foundation of good diet, getting enough sleep, attempts to manage stress, move your body, digest well and breathe!

Detoxification requires certain nutrients to support the “biochemical transformation” and there are certain supplements that can help, but food always comes first.

But I feel It Working!?

I know a lot of people will read this and think – I hear what you are saying, but, I’ve done a detox before and I felt it working?

Now I’ve already covered the “do you feel better because you are eating better and being kind to your digestion piece?”

But sometimes people can also experience lethargy, headaches & weight loss and think they are detoxing.

If you are experiencing negative symptoms like headaches and fatigue, it could be that you are actually becoming more toxic.

As you shed some body fat with your calorie restricted approach you will likely also be liberating fat soluble toxins into circulation that create an extra burden on the body (a burden that you have limited resources with which to cope, due to said reasons above).

If you are experiencing weight loss, well, that’s great BUT you may likely be losing a lot of water, some muscle and yes, some fat too BUT is it sustainable and what happens afters?

If you have done a detox before, did you rebound after? If you didn’t, let me know.

As I have already eluded to above I did 2 when I was 17 which involved just eating fruit and vegetables and put the weight back on again within a week.

Detox is a life long journey. It’s not something that you achieve in 7 days of juicing or a 28 day sugar fast. 

So in 2017, instead of jumping on to the next detox, juice fast or calorie-restrictive diet, what do you do?

Here’s what… Build Habits That You Can Sustain.

1. Carbohydrate: Lower carbohydrate intake by focusing on root vegetables, plenty of greens and gluten free grains such as quinoa, buckwheat & brown rice. Limit fruit to 1-2 portions per day and if you really want a January kick-start maybe leave the grains and fruits out for the first week and pick them up in moderation from week 2.
2. Protein: Increase lean proteins so that you are eating fish, poultry, venison and eggs at every meal. I recommend 1.5-2.0g/kg (or 0.75-1g per pound) of pure protein per day. Just start with a decent palm size portion and you will be fine!
3. Fats: Add good fat to every meal and think Mediterranean; avocado, oily fish, nuts and seeds and olive oil. Ditch the fried foods & confectionery.
4. Eat the rainbow; aim to get a variety of colourful vegetables every day
5. Love your gut: Add fermented foods to your daily diet – choose from sauerkraut, kimchee, kefir or kombucha
6. Reduce alcohol and drink more water, green or herbal tea and good quality coffee
7. Move your body every day, even if it’s just a walk
8. Make a habit of buying fresh produce, cook from scratch and prep in bulk to save time in the week
9. Get outside more
10. Meditate or pick an activity that helps you manage stress and do it daily!
11. BONUS TIP: Don’t sweat the small stuff. Stop aiming for perfect, but just choose better and be more mindful as often as you can

And if you want to be guided through creating these changes one step at a time, there is always the Sustainable Slim Down!

The Sustainable Slim down is my online weight loss course that I created to help women form sustainable habits, one step at a time, to create healthy weight loss and an improved understanding of what it actually means to eat a balanced diet.

It is a database of the exact tools my high end coaching clients are using to drop pounds and inches (without restrictive or obsessive behaviour) and cultivate self love.

For more information and to claim the special New Years Offer (which ends at 11:59pm on January 1st!) Just follow the link…

My previous post looked at loss of metabolic flexibility, created by poor food choices and not enough physical activity, and the potential influence this has on female hormones.

I finished off by saying that there was a final really interesting reason why this was the case…

I’d like to share that with you today.

So we were talking about metabolic flexibility and how a diet high in refined and processed carbohydrates and low in physical exercise can create an environment which disrupts female hormones.

I wanted to talk about something today which is your immune system or more specifically, if you read the title of this post – the selfish immune system.

Why is it selfish?

The body has 3 major systems which compete for energy.

• The muscles
• The brain
• The immune system

As you can imagine, when one system is dominating, it pulls energy away from the others.

The immune system, when it is inactive, does not cost the body a lot of energy. However, get a virus or infection and how do you feel?

• Foggy brain
• Very tired
• Aching muscles
• Completely out of breath when you walk up even a small flight of stairs
• Low in mood or even depression
• Lacking in motivation

This is a classic example of the immune system pulling energy away from the brain and metabolic system.

Our survival relies on the immune system to create a large response to resolve a threat from a foreign invader.

Although we know that insulin resistance can develop across time from poor diet, stress and lifestyle choices, many do not know that we can become insulin resistant in any moment should we be exposed to an infection.

The evolutionary benefit of this is to prioritise all energetic resources to the immune system and therefore shut down systems which would otherwise compete for energy.

Wow. The body is an amazing thing!

Now here is the problem.

A lot of modern disease is not due to acute infection, but chronic (long term) activation of the immune system.

A lot of modern disease comes from what we call low-grade inflammation.

This means that the immune system is switched on, but it’s not the raging fire we get when we have a really bad bout of the flu or a stomach bug. It is smouldering under the surface at a level that most wouldn’t even realise is there because it is the new “normal”.

How does this smouldering start in the first place and what does this mean for your health, weight and hormones?

It always comes back to the same stuff:

• Stress
• Poor diet (too many refined carbohydrates and not enough beneficial fats, proteins and colourful veg)
• Use of medications, pain killers, asthma pumps, oral contraceptives, ant-acid medications, antibiotics etc.
• Poor digestive health (influenced by the poor diet, stress, medications)
• Lack of physical exercise
• Not enough sleep
• Not enough time spent outdoors
• Never experiencing evolutionary stressors; food is always available, if we get cold we turn the heating on, if we get hot we turn the air con on, drinking water 10 times a day
• Disconnection / lack of physical touch / loneliness

A combination and any or all of the above is leading to chronic, low grade activation of the immune system that can create poor health.

This is why you cannot out exercise a bad diet.

And it might be worth doing some fasted exercise from time to time.

This is why stress management and prioritising basic needs like sleep and love are so important.

This is why “carbs are bad” and I am not a fan of low carb diets but I do think almost everyone needs to moderate their carbohydrate intake.

This is why you could take a walk on your lunch break.

This is why you could walk barefoot, go hiking and occasionally get an open wound or stung by some stinging nettles (it brings the immune system to the surface)

This is why you could stop being a body builder and trying to eat 6 times a day – 3 times is plenty – you don’t “need” to snack

This is why you could avoid using any medications unless absolutely necessary. A little pain won’t kill you, it will literally make you stronger (please do not take this as medical advice, always consult your doctor).

And all of the above helps to draw energy back into the metabolic system and the brain and away from a chronically activated immune system.

Which means…

• Better metabolic flexibility and being able to use fat as fuel
• Better satiety and feeling full after eating because energy is going to the brain
• Lower insulin
• Weight loss, especially central
• And of course… better hormonal balance and everything that comes with that.

You are welcome

x

I run a small Online Women’s Weight Loss Program that offer a personalised nutrition and exercise support to produce life changing and life-lasting results.

If you want to give up the guessing game and have someone just tell you what to do and hold you accountable to actually doing it then this is probably exactly what you have been waiting for.

Life doesn’t get better by chance, it gets better by choice. Now you have a moment where you can choose to take a step towards a very different future and join the community of like minded women who are not just losing weight, but transforming their lives, filling them with happiness and health.

To find out more about how my coaching program can help you, please fill out the application below to book a complimentary breakthrough call and find out out about working with me in more detail.

I hope you enjoyed the previous two posts looking at detoxification.

Myself and my husband (Ben) are buying our very first home. We move in this week. EEK!

It is exciting to finally have somewhere to call our own. However, I love the flat we rent at the moment. It really feels like the first place I’ve truly been able to call “home” since leaving South Africa almost 9 years ago.

The good news is, I will no longer have a kitchen the size of a shoe box and there should be some scope to film some cooking videos to help you.

It does feel really unsettling to think about all the changes. And as much as I hate to admit it, I like change just as much as the next person.

Which is not very much.

One of the things I speak about a lot is the need to be flexible. A lot of people don’t realise how their mindset and approach to things is linked with their health.

Health is about metabolic flexibility – for the body to be able to use the right fuels at the right time. Loss of metabolic flexibility causes us to become sugar dominant and not able to burn fat as fuel (which means it gets stored around our belly).

Health is about immunological flexibility – we want the immune system to react when it’s appropriate.

At times this can be life saving!

But we do not want the immune system to be chronically active or attacking tissues as we may see in low grade inflammation which underpins all chronic disease – including female hormone issues like PCOS, Uterine Fibroids or Endometriosis.

If we are metabolically flexible we are more likely to immunologically flexible – so improving metabolic flexibility improves immunological balance and therefore hormonal balance.

And we can improve metabolic flexibility by being my psychologically flexible and this means…

Getting comfortable with change.

So as I prepare for a period of time where I am expecting to be completely ungrounded, I keep reassuring myself that I am improving my metabolism and immune system 😉

All jokes aside.

Let’s talk metabolic flexibility today and female hormones.

I’ve summarised what it means to be metabolically flexible in a nut shell, but let’s look at this a little more closely.

Sugar and Fat two of our three primary fuel sources. The third is phosphocreatine which is an immediate and very short term energy source, but I want to keep it simple so let’s stay focused on sugars and fats.

[disclaimer: I will oversimplify to keep it understandable]

One molecule of sugar gives us less energy but it produces energy very quickly. One molecule of fat gives us lots more energy, but it takes a little more time to create.

When we need energy to be supplied quickly (for example a 400m sprint) we rely mostly on sugars. When we need large amounts of energy but more long term (for example a marathon or a long hike) we rely more so on fats.

Being able to burn sugar for short duration high intensity activities and being able to go for a long time without food (and therefore burning body fat), represent good metabolic flexibility.

Being able to use both fuel as and when is appropriate.

Have you ever exercised first thing in the morning before you ate or drank anything and felt really low in energy or maybe your muscles felt sore, stiff and sluggish, maybe you even felt light headed or nauseous? Or…

Maybe you are ready to kill someone by the time lunch time appears in the office.

You need to have “snacks” available in case you get too hungry or should I say “hangry”.

Maybe you also…

Carry excess weight around your midsection, have skin tags, suffer from acne, low energy, fatigue after eating or PCOS.

All of these are signs of loss of metabolic flexibility.

And what causes this? There can be many causes, some of which may relate to activation of your immune system, and I’ll be telling you about this later in the week.

For now let’s look at food causes.

Quite simply, over consumption of carbohydrates, particularly refined and processed.

Too much of the following:

• Confectionery items
• Bread, pasta, cereals and other refined grains
• Fruit juices and high sugar fruit consumption
• Fizzy drinks

Eat too many of these and your body is so busy trying to deal with all the sugar, it forgets to use all the fat.

If you have all this easy to use energy lying around (albeit low yield) why bother spending the extra time burning fat. What this can lead to is what most people may be familiar with as insulin resistance, the pre-cursor to diabetes.

Simply explained this means that the hormone (insulin) responsible for getting energy into cells, need to be produced in higher amounts to do the same job.

When insulin is high, we aren’t burning fat’s. When we aren’t able to burn fats we lose metabolic flexibility as our fat burning enzymes and mitochondria down-regulate (use it or lose it!).

And yes, this will cause weight gain and a whole host of symptoms listed above, but it can also upset female hormone balance for several reasons.

1. One of the reasons is that with increased insulin we can get an increase in testosterone levels and this is typically one of the underlying imbalances in PCOS.
2. Additionally, more fat may increase oestrogen levels and therefore play into oestrogen dominance.
3. Higher insulin levels also reduce sex hormone binding globulin, the binding protein that binds hormones and keeps them inactive.
4. This means that we potentially have more free circulating hormones in the blood stream which are able to bind to receptors.

The final reason, is the reason I find THE most interesting and you will have to wait until the next post to find out about that…

I run a small Online Women’s Weight Loss Program that offer a personalised nutrition and exercise support to produce life changing and life-lasting results.

If you want to give up the guessing game and have someone just tell you what to do and hold you accountable to actually doing it then this is probably exactly what you have been waiting for.

Life doesn’t get better by chance, it gets better by choice. Now you have a moment where you can choose to take a step towards a very different future and join the community of like minded women who are not just losing weight, but transforming their lives, filling them with happiness and health.

To find out more about how my coaching program can help you, please fill out the application below to book a complimentary breakthrough call and find out out about working with me in more detail.

Today I am sharing with you the second part on detoxification.

In part 1 we looked at why “traditional” detox diets are actually the complete opposite of what one should be doing to support detoxification and how some of these practises can hinder, and not help, female hormone balance.

So today is really about looking at what you can do and eat and how to do this with female hormone balance in mind.

Above is a picture of the liver, the different phases of detoxification (phase 1 and 2) and the nutrients that can help or hinder it.

Carbohydrate

The liver is the place in the body where excess sugar is turned into fat. It is also the place where we process fructose, the natural fruit sugar.

If the liver is busy processing excess  and fructose then it won’t be busy doing it’s detox job.

It is important to distinguish here that excess sugar does not solely refer to the white stuff you might add to tea and coffee, but any carbohydrates as a whole.

This would include excessive consumption of grains, cereals, breads, pasta, potatoes as well as fruits.

Lowering carbohydrate intake and focusing on carbohydrates from root vegetables like carrots, butternut squash, parsnips, beetroot AND avoiding grains, cereals and processed is the way to go.

If you suspect that you may have some “liver stuff” going on, I would even recommend a short term abstinence from fruit (4 weeks). However, you will see that some fruits have beneficial nutrients that will support detoxification in the longer term.

Fruit juices are a definite must to avoid which I am sure you can see contradicts “traditional” detox practises.

One of my favourite lines from one of my lectures was when someone asked “But what if you juice is yourself?” and the lecturer answered “Well then you just have homemade fructose!“

Proteins

Under phase 2 detoxification you will see certain amino acids listed.

Amino acids are protein building blocks and their significance as part of phase 2 needs explaining.

Detoxification is about transforming molecules for excretion. Molecules are initially transformed via phase 1 to even more toxic molecules (the intermediary stage). Toxic intermediary stage molecules are converted by using amino acids in phase 2 to water soluble molecules that can be excreted.

What happens if you don’t have enough of these amino acids?

The process gets “stuck” in the middle and you can have a build up of even more damaging molecules. 

Therefore, we must get enough protein by dietary or supplemental means for healthy detoxification to take place.

• I would recommend somewhere between 1.5g-2.0g of protein per kilogram body weight as a general statement.
• Getting protein from organic sources is ideal although not essential provided you buy lean protein sources
• Certain proteins like fish, seafood and lamb can be easy on digestion.
• Slow cooking meats (perfect at this time of year) will be easier on digestion but you will also generate less harmful compounds than by grilling or frying
• Whey protein has been shown to raise an important anti-oxidant compound called glutathione which is essential for successful detoxification and could therefore we used to supplement protein intake
• Bone broths (stock made from slow cooked meat bones – another great one for the time of year) are high in glycine and great for the gut and detox pathways.

Fats

Fat’s do not have a direct role in detoxification per se, however, we already know that fats are essential for creating healthy hormones.

Additionally, dietary fat sources provide fat soluble vitamins like A, D & E all of which act as anti-oxidant buffers to prevent damage create by intermediary stage molecule.

We rely on healthy liver function to be able to digest and process fats properly. This creates a catch 22 where if liver function is poor, we cannot get the nutrients we need and if we can’t get the nutrients we need then liver function is affected.

If you want to support the body as best as possible I recommend focusing on:

• Anti-inflammatory fats such as omega 3 (oily fish) and monounsaturated fats such as olives, avocado and olive oil
• Walnut oil is high in vitamin E
• Oily fish will be high in vitamin D and omega 3
• Animal liver, is high in the most bio available form of vitamin A
• Apart from coconut oil, avoid saturated fats by opting for lean cuts of meat and poultry
• Definitely avoid processed seed oils sold in plastic or clear glass bottles.
• If you struggle to digest fats, perhaps consider speaking with someone about a digestive enzyme

Calories

Detoxification is an energetic process so adequate calorie consumption is essential. The goal is not to restrict but to eat an abundance of good quality food to maximise on vitamin and mineral consumption.

I say this every week but one of the biggest issues I see with women is chronic under-eating or over-eating but the wrong foods.

We need to meet in the middle and eat more of the good stuff and less bad stuff!

Eat the Rainbow

In addition meeting calorie and macro needs you will notice that certain plant based foods and B-vitamins are listed above.

The chemicals in every plant that give it it’s colour or maybe protect it against being consumed by insects or the sun, can have a positive impact on human health.

These plant chemicals are called phyto-chemicals or phyto-nutrients.

The best way to ensure you get enough is to eat a wide variety of colourful plant based foods.

I sometimes set my clients the challenge of eating 100 different plant based foods in a week!

Try it, it isn’t easy.

But consider how you can add more variety into your diet.

Walk around the supermarket and buy vegetables you wouldn’t normally buy.

Add 20 ingredients into a salad.

And don’t forget about herbs and spices too.

Out of all of these there are some specific food which have been proven to support detoxification:

• Cruciferous vegetables
• Pomegranate
• Green Tea
• Coffee
• Turmeric
• Ginger
• Onions
• Garlic
• Coriander
• Dill
• Rosemary
• Mint
• Citrus
• Beetroot

To name a few…

Bring it all together

So really what I have described here is a health diet:

• A diet with adequate calories – not too much or too little
• Healthy and balanced protein intake
• Moderate carbohydrates
• An abundance of healthy fats
• A wide variety of fresh colourful plant based foods
• And if you want something to drink water, herbal teas and the occasional coffee or glass of organic wine will be just fine

And I tell you now, if you can build these habits, not only will you feel better but you will probably lose weight and have better energy too.

I actually believe that detoxification is a life long journey.

It’s not a 30 day challenge or 7 day juice fast. 

We live in a very toxic environment and if you were to worry about every little toxin your are exposed to, you would go bonkers!

But what you can do is make a daily and continuous effort to do the best to minimise exposure and put the good things in.

I run a small Online Women’s Weight Loss Program that offer a personalised nutrition and exercise support to produce life changing and life-lasting results.

If you want to give up the guessing game and have someone just tell you what to do and hold you accountable to actually doing it then this is probably exactly what you have been waiting for.

Life doesn’t get better by chance, it gets better by choice. Now you have a moment where you can choose to take a step towards a very different future and join the community of like minded women who are not just losing weight, but transforming their lives, filling them with happiness and health.

To find out more about how my coaching program can help you, please fill out the application below to book a complimentary breakthrough call and find out out about working with me in more detail.

In the previous post I covered oestrogen excess and oestrogen dominance (similar but different), and I explained that a huge part of healthy oestrogen metabolism is about being able to detoxify well.

It seems appropriate that today I write about detox (although a little ironic with the festive season approaching – might have to send this one out in January again!).

Detoxification is something that so many people get so wrong.

Come January you will have people in the health industry trying to sell you the idea of a “detox” or a “cleanse”.

No matter who is selling it to you, these tend to be the common ingredients:

• Low calorie
• Low protein & fat
• Likely to lack of solids or large amounts of liquids – juices/smoothies/soups
• May involve shakes, pills or supplements
• May involve missing meals or fasting

As I type this out I have suddenly realised…

Phew! There is a LOT we need to get straight here.

*Goes to top of the screen and adds “Part 1” *

So where to begin?

Let’s talk about why this approach may actually hinder detoxification, not support it and in Part 2 we can talk about what to do differently.

Low Calorie Diets

Do you remember the part when I told you how stress disrupts female hormones by potentially lowering progesterone?

Well under-eating is a stress – the biggest stress that we faced as man-kind before we learnt how to farm.

If you are looking for hormone balance, adequate calorie intake is ESSENTIAL.

I cannot tell you how many women I have worked with who are creating problems by their dieting behaviour in a pursuit for some self imposed body composition standard (and failing miserably!)

I would also add the detoxification is incredibly energetically expensive. You need to have energy to be able to detoxify. That isn’t going to happen if you are starving.

Low Protein & Fat

You might also remember the part where I explained that sex (and stress) hormones are made from fat.

We need to have enough fat in our diet to supply the building blocks for health hormonal balance (not to mention many aspects of health).

So dropping calories by cutting fat is a recipe for disaster.

Additionally, proteins are used to make enzymes.

We need enzymes to be able to detoxify.

Detoxification is taking something that is not useful to the body or needs to be recycled, changing it’s chemical structure and composition so that it can be excreted and then excreting it.  ENZYMES do the changing chemical structure bit. Without them, you can’t do detoxification.

We get protein from our food, or we break down muscle tissue or gut lining or joint tissue or other fun stuff that you probably don’t want to be getting rid of, to supply it.

A low protein approach to detoxification just doesn’t work.

The final thing is, if you take out protein & you take out fat, that just leaves you with a pile of carbs.

Now most people I work with have hormonal imbalances partly because they need to lose some weight too. So having the majority of your diet from unopposed carbs (even if it is fruit and veg), is going to raise insulin and potentially affect hormonal balance too.

In Part 2, I’ll also explain that while the liver is too busy processing all these fruit sugars and carbohydrates. It’s not really thinking about detox.

Liquid Meals & Fasting

Now, liquid meals can actually be really great at times.

If you have digestive problems, having food which is already “chewed” so to speak, can be really helpful.

It ensures you have something that is easy on the digestive system and may help with nutrient availability.

However, living off liquid meals, especially if low in fat, protein (as already discussed) & fibre may have a negative impact on insulin levels meaning that you are more likely to crave sugar, gain wait around your mid-section and further disrupt hormones.

Solids keep you fuller for longer.

Protein, fat and fibre do too.

Many people claim they feel “better” on a detox diet but is it because they are detoxing or is it because their digestion is working better?

When digestive is off, it is a huge drain on our immune system, selfishly pulling energy away from our brain.

So would we benefit from perhaps doing a “digestive reset” (something I advise all my clients to do), instead of a detox diet?

The next piece of the puzzle is fasting or missing meals.

Again, this is something that does have it’s place from time to time. I DO recommend:

• a reduced meal frequency: 2-3 meals per day instead of 3 main meals and snacks
• time restricted feeding: not eating very early and very late but allowing at least 12 hours between dinner and breakfast

But…

This approach should NOT be combined with low calorie, low protein, low fat or liquid only diets.

Shakes, Supplements and Pills

Someone selling you some sort of product without talking to you about your current diet, your sleep, your stress, your exercise, your digestion and your ability to self care is just selling your something!

Supplements are what they say on the tin…

SUPPLEMENT-ARY to a foundation of good diet, getting enough sleep, attempts to manage stress, move your body, digest well and breathe!

Detoxification requires certain nutrients to support the “biochemical transformation” and there are certain supplements that can help, but food always comes first and I’ll talk about what food in part 2.

But I feel It Working!?

I know a lot of people will read this and think – I hear what you are saying, but, I’ve done a detox before and I felt it working?

Now I’ve already covered the “do you feel better because you are eating better and being kind to your digestion piece?”

But sometimes people can also experience lethargy, headaches & weight loss and think they are detoxing.

If you are experiencing negative symptoms like headaches and fatigue, it could be that you are actually becoming more toxic.

As you shed some body fat with your calorie restricted approach you will likely also be liberating fat soluble toxins into circulation that create an extra burden on the body (a burden that you have limited resources with which to cope, due to said reasons above).

If you are experiencing weight loss, well, that’s great BUT you may likely be losing a lot of water, some muscle and yes, some fat too BUT is it sustainable and what happens afters?

If you have done a detox before, did you rebound after? If you didn’t, let me know.

I did 2 when I was 16 which involved just eating fruit and vegetables and put the weight back on again within a week.

I also explain in Part 2 that detox is a life long journey. It’s not something that you achieve in 7 days of juicing or a 28 day sugar fast. 

Doing those things may make your feel better about yourself for some reason or other, but it’s not because you are “detoxing”.  

So, Phew! That’s it.

Now I have painted a horrendous picture of what “traditional” detox diets are actually all about, I will paint a much more positive picture of what you can to look after, love and nourish your body (an it’s detox pathways) in Part 2.

Stay tuned!

I run a small Online Women’s Weight Loss Program that offer a personalised nutrition and exercise support to produce life changing and life-lasting results.

If you want to give up the guessing game and have someone just tell you what to do and hold you accountable to actually doing it then this is probably exactly what you have been waiting for.

Life doesn’t get better by chance, it gets better by choice. Now you have a moment where you can choose to take a step towards a very different future and join the community of like minded women who are not just losing weight, but transforming their lives, filling them with happiness and health.

To find out more about how my coaching program can help you, please fill out the application below to book a complimentary breakthrough call and find out out about working with me in more detail.

This weekend I was in London attending a 2 day Yoga Workshop where we mostly just sat and breathed.

I also spent some time catching up with close and special friends and seeing my fellow yogi’s from the various retreats I have been on (if you are reading this – love you guys!)

It was just what the doctor ordered and actually really relevant considering the topic for this post, oestrogen dominance.

I introduced the topic of oestrogen dominance briefly in my previous post of this series, looking at a general overview of the cycle.

It is often misunderstood.

Often people think that oestrogen dominance is having high levels of oestrogen.

This isn’t necessarily true.

Oestrogen dominance is when oestrogen is high relative to progesterone.

This means that you can have normal levels of oestrogen, but if progesterone is low, you can present with oestrogen dominance (OD).

OD is a common characteristic in many female hormone related conditions from PMS, to PCOS, to endometriosis, fibroids and even menopause!

Signs and symptoms of oestrogen excess are generally associated with:

• depression
• anxiety
• mood swings
• bowel disturbances
• headaches
• breast tenderness
• painful ovulation
• sinusitis
• heavy bleeding
• painful periods
• hormone related acne
• water retention and bloating
• reduced sex drive
• weight gain (centrally and around hips)
• thyroid dysfunction
• fatigue
• foggy brain
• sleep disturbances (especially as approaching menopause)
• interestingly many auto-immune conditions may be associated with oestrogen

I’d like to explore what causes OD today and what you can do about it.

The biggest cause of low progesterone is stress. I have touched on this previously with the concept of the progesterone steal. When we have a high need for the production of stress hormones we steal the tools needed to make progesterone and hence progesterone is low and oestrogen can become relatively high (even if it remains within a “normal” range).

(Just to add here that sex hormones are made from fats so a low fat diet can also lead to low levels of sex hormones generally)

This is why I said that my yoga workshop weekend was really relevant to today.

Part of managing stress is about tapping into and activating the parasympathetic part of the nervous system. Yoga, singing & chanting, meditating and breathing slowly and deeply – all of which I spent A LOT of time doing this weekend, activate this part of our system.

This weekend I also spent time with some of my favourite people. Positive social relationships also act as stress relief.

Other things you can do include:

• Exposure to cold – taking a cold shower (or a cold dip in the sea in my case) may help with parasympathetic balance as can…
• Laughter
• Exercise
• Probiotics
• Massage
• Fasting
• Zinc
• Eating Carbohydrates (!)
• Acupuncture
• Tai Chi
• Having Sex
• Eating seafood (because of the EPA and DHA)
• Eating Fibre

I’ve also spoken a lot about lifestyle balance and specific dietary requirements for stress management in previous blogs; here, here & here…

So we can have stress driving oestrogen excess.

We can also have oestrogen excess due to poor oestrogen metabolism and poor oestrogen excretion.

Oestrogen being high because we are making too much oestrogen from hormones like testosterone.

And…

Oestrogen being high because we cannot metabolise it in the liver and clear it from the body in the digestive system (hello gut and liver health!)

Aromatisation

It’s a big word and what it refers to is the process where testosterone is converted to oestrogen.

This is part of normal metabolism, but, performed in excess, it can cause problems.

So what causes it?

• Being overweight
• High alcohol consumption
• Zinc Deficiency
• Insulin Resistance (eating too many carbs)
• Low vitamin D3 (not enough sunshine)
• And of course…. stress

So you can see that better dietary habits; more zinc rich proteins like seafood, reducing alcohol and processed carbohydrates and getting outside and some sun on your skin (sadly not this time of year) help with hormonal balance but so does losing weight.

So losing weight helps with hormone balance and hormone balance helps with weight loss. Therefore the two are not separate, but the same journey!

Things that improve the picture are:

• Flaxseeds – grind them up and put them in a porridge or a smoothie
• Green Tea – 2-4 cups per day
• Isoflavones – found in pulses
• Flavonoids – onions, broccoli, celery, parsley, apple, oranges, lemons, grapefruit, blueberries, raspberries, red wine in moderation, apple
• Stinging Nettle
• Vitamin C

So the rules are simple, eat more of the good stuff and less of the bad. 

Detoxification

I’d like to keep this short and sweet.

Detoxification is a really misunderstood process by the general public – I will dedicate a post soley to explaining why.

For now I just want you to know that hormones must be detoxified and broken down and the liver is the place where this happens.

Healthy liver function is really important for healthy hormone balance and this means:

1. Generally reducing exposure to environmental toxins
2. Eating foods that supply the nutrients for the different pathways in the liver to work well.

For oestrogen metabolism, these foods are important ones to have in your diet:

• Cruciferous vegetables containing Indol-3 Carbinol (I3C) and DIM
• Berries
• Flaxseed
• Caffeine – woohoo!
• Rosemary
• Exercise

Things that may get in the way include:

• ​​​​​​​Thyroid problems
• Smoking
• High fructose diet (fruit juices, dried fruits, processed foods or excessive fruit consumption)
• Excess sugar consumption
• Omega 6 fatty acids (especially processed seed oils)
• Various medications
• Pesticides
• PCBs found in plastic packaging
• Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons – found in blackened or barbequed meat

Finally, I MUST add…

Once we have processed oestrogen in the liver, it needs to get out somehow.

This happens via the bowels. So basically, you need to make sure you toilet habits are “regular”, which means good digestive health, otherwise you potentially risk reabsorbing oestrogen back into the body again.

​​​​​​​So all you need to do this week is reflect on these lists.

How can you increase the good and reduce the bad?

What small (or big) changes could you make to take one step further forward to better health.

I think it would be a good idea to bust some of the myths about detoxification in the next “episode”.

I run a small Online Women’s Weight Loss Program that offer a personalised nutrition and exercise support to produce life changing and life-lasting results.

If you want to give up the guessing game and have someone just tell you what to do and hold you accountable to actually doing it then this is probably exactly what you have been waiting for.

Life doesn’t get better by chance, it gets better by choice. Now you have a moment where you can choose to take a step towards a very different future and join the community of like minded women who are not just losing weight, but transforming their lives, filling them with happiness and health.

To find out more about how my coaching program can help you, please fill out the application below to book a complimentary breakthrough call and find out out about working with me in more detail.

This month I am focusing the blog series on female hormones and how to use a natural approach to balancing them with food, supplements and lifestyle.

This is a topic that is close to my heart (as are many topics it is becoming apparent).

When I first moved to London in 2008, the stress of the change in lifestyle in addition to poor dietary choices due to exposure of a different culture caused me to reach “rock bottom” where my health and hormonal balance was concerned.

I was suffering from burn out, IBS, my skin wasn’t the same as what it was and my periods were extremely heavy and very painful.

After digging around on the internet I suspected I had endometriosis.

The suspicions were confirmed went I visited a gynaecologist in South Africa that December. He suggested a laparoscopy.

The good news was the laparoscopy came back clear. I didn’t have endometriosis.

The bad news – well I still had no explanation for why I felt like sh*t.

Except I did.

For the past year my life had been bonkers.

Despite the fact I had a degree in Human Movement and Biochemistry, was working as a personal trainer AND completing the final year of my nutrition degree, quite frankly I was doing a lot wrong and very little right.

I wasn’t eating properly – living on a small budget and over-excited by all the convenience food we never had in a small town in SA.

I wasn’t sleeping enough – I was working every morning and evening, getting to bed late, up early and studying between. Not to mention crazy house mates throwing parties and coming home all hours of the night.

I was exercising too much. Everyone talks about the “Heathrow Injection”. You come to London from SA and you automatically gain weight. In an attempt to not be affected by said condition I was trying to maintain the same exercise levels I had in SA. Which meant lots and lots of cardio, usually on not enough food or sleep.

Stress levels were through the roof for every reason possible. Not having a stable place to live, financial insecurities, adjusting to living in a busy city on a different continent in a new hemisphere, the stress of studying on top of that and no real support network.

So after that “You don’t have endometriosis” December I started my path to learning how to look after myself again.

It took me I good 3 years to start to return to something that seemed “normal”, which was 2011. And in the 5 years since I have been on a continuous journey of self care.

This is why I am so passionate about this.

Because I have been there on this journey that so many women tell me about.

I know I didn’t have endometriosis but I have coached clients through it, not to mention those affected by PCOS, fibroids and menopause.

What is becoming increasingly apparent is that most women aren’t looking after their basic needs.

I used to teach nutrition & weight loss like this…

But now I want to start teaching like this…

And that’s why everything I wrote about in the stress series (which you can catch up on previous posts) needed to come first.

​​​​​​​But now, it’s time to talk about the sex hormones and introduce you to your cycle.

I run a small Online Women’s Weight Loss Program that offer a personalised nutrition and exercise support to produce life changing and life-lasting results.

If you want to give up the guessing game and have someone just tell you what to do and hold you accountable to actually doing it then this is probably exactly what you have been waiting for.

Life doesn’t get better by chance, it gets better by choice. Now you have a moment where you can choose to take a step towards a very different future and join the community of like minded women who are not just losing weight, but transforming their lives, filling them with happiness and health.

To find out more about how my coaching program can help you, please fill out the application below to book a complimentary breakthrough call and find out out about working with me in more detail.

Today is the last day of the October Stress Series!

And today I want to write a little bit about the impact of stress on female hormones, because…

In November, this is going to be the topic of the email series (the in December we can talk about surviving Christmas without putting on half a stone).

As always, if you are new this series, I would recommend you catch up on the whole series on my blog, starting at the beginning.

I’ve also been doing some some Video on my Facebook Page so if you haven’t already been following me on Facebook, I’ve put some videos on this blog and you can also watch then on my Fan Page. The most recent of which is talking about sugar cravings!

Okay, so, formalities out of the way, let’s talk Stress and Female Hormones!

Just to freak you out I’ll share this with you…

Now before I cause too much stress, don’t worry about understanding this. We have the rest of November for that!

What I do want you to get from today is that our stress hormones (bottom right) are created through the same pathway as our sex hormones (left hand side).

I love to use the naughty child analogy.

If you have two children and one of them is very naughty, where does all the attention go?

To the naughty child of course! And the good child can often get neglected.

Same goes for our hormones.

If the body is focusing all its energy at creating stress hormones, healthy and balanced production of sex hormones can get neglected.

The other thing to notice on this diagram is that progesterone (one of the important female hormones) is used to make cortisol, the main stress hormone.

This means that if we have to make a lot of cortisol because we have a lot of stress, we can get what is called the pregnenolone or progesterone steal.

This is when our body steals resources from progesterone to ensure we have adequate hormones to respond to our environment. Stress, and NOT fertility, is the biological priority at this point in time.

It’s not a bad thing in the short term because it doesn’t make sense to get pregnant when you are in danger. But in the long term with chronic stressors, it can cause hormonal imbalances like PMS, exacerbate PCOS, endometriosis and uterine fibroids or even increase menopausal symptoms.

That is about as much detail that I want to go into today because I will be going into A LOT more detail across the month of November.

The last thing just to mention though is that many women approach me with hormonal problems. PCOS, PMS, menstrual migraine, endometriosis, fibroids etc.

There is a lot that can be done with food and supplements to support these conditions. However, do not forget about the power of lifestyle balance.

I honestly believe that it is one of THE most powerful tools in any health journey. Whether you want to lose weight, fix your digestion, work with some auto-immune condition or balance your hormones.

That’s it from me, I hope you have enjoyed this stress series and I will be writing to you soon.

If you would like a little more science then you can also catch up on this video I created to explain what causes longer cycles in women and how this relates to stress.