Quick note before you all grab a dogunt after reading todays blog title, I am not talking about ‘that’ type of fat, nor am I asking you to start working towards a new bigger bountiful you…. step away from the Krispy Kreme!!!

I’m talking about fat found in food, the good kind. And hopefully going to debunk the myth that fat makes you fat. As we should know by now sugar makes you fat, processed carboydrates mixed with fat, makes you fat.

But fat, just as fat is an excellent energy source and is crucial to many metabolic processes. Making sure you diet has enough healthy fats means you  have the right building blocks for vital organs, cells and hormones.

When I say to people I live off a high fat/ low carb diet, they imediatley think atkins…. I immediately tell them to pipe down. Most people go wrong on low carb diets as they think they are doing themselves a favour by just eating protein, word to the wise diet queen, your body needs at least 30g of carbs per day for liver function, and if you want to have any energy whatsoever you need to replace where your body sources its fuel from, if you take out carbs you need to replace with another which would be fats, so eating just protein and no fats, will leave you to become dreary and energy less, plus starving .. all in all epic fail.

I am by no means saying a high fat low carb diet is for everyone, I have seen amazing results and body transformations with carbs, when used correctly.

But for myself and anyone else with any internal damage out there, the high fat diet has one little bonus that a high carb does not, it prevents immflation.

3 Types of Fat 

TRANSFATS 

I am not going into this. Avoid at all costs, they are found in processed foods like biscuits, crisps and margarine.

Eating these bad boys will double your risk of heart disease, plus double your waistline

Read your packaging - Steer Clear

MONO- UNSATURATED

These babies are gold dust, eating your mono’s will

• Improve blood pressure
• Improve cholesterol levels
• Anti inflammatory effect

These can be found in food such as avocadoes, macadamias, hazelnuts, olives and olive oil (cold)

SATURATED FAT

The fat that makes you all kind of fat? right? Wrong?

Saturated fat found in REAL unprocessed food, actually makes you healthier, it is only bad in poor quality food, depending on how the food was sourced and prepared.

Bad sat fat - Fast food chain burger

Poor quality meat + bad cooking methods + gluten in bun + fatty/processed condiments

Good sat fat - Home made burgers

Lean organic meat + grilled + hold the bun or use an alternative eg sweet potato sliders / salad

Don't be afraid of red meat, the harmful kind of sat fat comes from eating too many refined carbs.

Other ways to get your fats:

Butter - is a great source of fat! Unless your dairy intolerant due to it being 20% Milk

but your butter needs to be either grass fed or organic

and my favouriteeee COCONUT!! 💗

Coconut in all forms provide a great source of good fats, butter/ flakes/ milk or canned unsweetened milk.

Lastly a bit of PUFA education

Poly-unsaturated Fatty Acids

Were going to look at omega 3 and omega 6

Lets keep this basic

Omega 3 - GOOD prevents inflammation

Omega 6 - BAD promotes inflammation

So you need to keep your omega 3 balance above your omega 6.

Every good fat source will have an omega 3/omega 6 ratio

For example nuts:

Best Ratio - Cashews/Hazelnuts/Macadamias 

Limit to 2/3 per week - Almonds/Brazil/Pistachios 

More 6 than 3 - Flax/Pumpkin/sesame/ sunflower/walnuts - eating too many of these could cause problems.

So go gettttt your fats 😊

Much Love 

Linda xxx

So today I wanna talk about our old friend Dairy 😊

With half of you guys, myself plus 30% of adults in the UK, having some sort of dairy or lactose intolerance, I think its time….. the laughing cow aint gonna be laughing no more!

Hairy Dairy  😡

Lets get one thing straight - Cows milk… the milk of a cow is made for what …. Calfs! Can you believe it?! hmmm.

Just as us human folk feed from our mothers milk as babies, baby cows feed from theirs.  The milk from a cow, is full of nutrients to support the growth and function of a baby cow. So unless you aspire to be a raging bull? what you doing?

We are the only species that drink another species birth milk…. bit weird don't you think.

Dairy - dairy intolerance, unbeknown to most can actually can be the cause of many problems:

• Acne
• Asthma
• Insulin Resistance
• Type 1 Diabetes
• to name but a few.
  

Lactose - Milks carbohydrate component.

Most infants can digest lactose, but after weaning most of us lose the ability to convert this crafty carb into any form that can be used by the body, leaving it undigested.

When lactose is left undigested it causes bloating and gastrointernal issues.

Scary Dairy 😈

If the fact that your drinking hormones of a baby cow or the complications dairy allergies can bring to health aint enough to scare you off, try this on for size.

A COW back in the day could produce a certain amount of milk.

These days cows can produce almost 5 times the amount of milk they could ten years ago! Why? have we found some species of extra milky cow?

NO FOOL. They pump them full of steroids and hormones to make them turbo cows, this beautiful concoction will then find its way into your lovely pint of semi skimmed! Tasty!

Calcium Kid  😎

But how the hell am I gonna get my calcium, to grow up big and stronggggg?

Ok lets get a couple of things straight, its not just calcium your body requires to have healthy bones and prevent osteoporosis, you also require :

• Vitamin C
• Vitamin D3
• Vitamin K
  

In fact, if your using milk or dairy as your main source of calcium 9/10 you wont be meeting your requirements, due to over processing the calcium that is left in these products is useless to the body anyway.

There are plenty of other natural un processed sources to get your calcium requirements from.

• Leafy Greens
• Kale, Spinach, Bok Choy, to name but a few
• Fish
• Sardines, Shrimp and Salmon
• Nuts
• Almonds, hazlenuts, walnuts.
  

Another way to help prevent osteoporosis… Lift some god damn weights!😊

So, just had a strawberry yazoo? feeling any of the following?

• Bit windy mate? (flatulence)
• Sharp exit to the bathroom? (diarrhoea) 
• Suddenly looks 6 months pregnant (bloated belly)
• Cramps that would give mother nature a run for her money?
• Feeling heavy? (water retention/weight gain)
• Blllluuuuerrrrr (nausea)
  

if you find you have any of these you may find that you are in fact intolerant, I suggest taking dairy out of your diet for two weeks and re introduce it slowly and see how your body reacts.

Get weary of the dairy 😇

Unfortunately for us folk already trying to avoid the white stuff, dairy sneaks up in the sneakiest of places:

Apart from your obvious:

Milk, butter, cream, ice cream, cheese and yoghurt, its also found in many other hidden places

for example:

Salad cream, mayonnaise, biscuits, chocolate, sweets, cakes, breads, cereals, cereal bars, packet mixes, instant mash, ready mixed herbs and seasonings, burgers, sausages and slicked meats.

To name but a few……

So make sure your always reading packets and checking what your ordering or what someone is cooking, labels by law now have to state allergy information and milk should be highlighted, if not, don't chance it pick something else.

All is not lost, I have found almond milk and coconut milk to be an amazing replacement, actually more enjoyable, and there are products out there, yoghurts and chocolate made with these, or just get creative and make your own stuff.

So on that note I ll leave you to your skinny latte 😉

Peace and love 

Linda xxx

So lets educate ourselves…. Today instead of talking about the benefits of food, were gonna go allllll personal and touch on relationships with food and emotional eating, I am hoping if you understand this, for those of you that it applies to, even just a little little bit, you might be able to make a distinction between actual hunger or eating for comfort.

Don't worry I'm not going to write you some boring black and white essay, I'm gonna break this down blonde style.

1. Blame your brain

Reward circuitry is integrated in parts of your brain - your brain registers comfort foods with a feeling of pleasure, making it powerful and easy to remember.

These foods tell your brain to release dopamine. 

Dopamine - is associated with pleasure so reinforces food seeking - gives you a rush of anticipation before you even take your first bite.

2. The curse of cravings

Ok so this is how cravings work, in this example I'm using the one thing I miss the most chocolate hobnobs…. Even just writing it…. Dopamine everywhere, may of just dribbled on my desk 😏

So your bored at your desk at work, you daydream by no fault of your own about some chocolate hobnobs 

You start visualising, taste and texture with a nice cuppa …..

YOU WANT THESE HOBNOBS!!!

But you actually don't, its that damn dopamine talking!! So you stop off on the way home and pick up said biscuits of chocolatey beautifulness

And lets be honest you have probably had one before you even make it through the front door.

And lets not forget because of its poor nutritional profile and high sugar content… NOBODY has EVER eaten just ONE!

Your brain will now release opioids (endorphins)

This will bring pleasure, emotional and stress relief to your brain.

Over time with continued reinforcement this builds up pathways in your brain, your training your own brain without even knowing it.

3. Sooooo Emooooooo

So what's this gotta do with my emotions?

Firstly most of this isn't your fault … since when your were a child and you did well, or you had hurt yourself in the playground, what did any adult do to keep you quiet… reward you with sugar!

Your brain remembers this.. its remembers the feeling of pleasure the treat in question gave you last time and starts to link certain feelings with food.

It makes a link:  I'm stressed…. What made me better last time (dopamine is already being released) ahhhhh pizza

Or I'm sad last time that ben and jerrys made me feel great… 

And unfortunately nine times out of ten, well I can safely say I have never known anyone say… ‘I've had a shit day at work, I'm off to smash a chicken salad” no siree

It is always sugary, salty, fatty foods or alcoholic drinks.

Don't forget the joke is on you!!! These foods are DESIGNED to be hard to say no to, they are designed to be addictive, they rewire pleasure, reward and emotion pathways to the brain, promoting hard to resist cravings and automatic consumptions.

Stress and inadequate sleep also reinforce these patterns.

4. So basically I'm screwed?

Yeah pretty much……

No but its no walk in the park… these pathways have been built up over years and are going to be hard to break.

The key is rewarding yourself with good nutritious food with a good profile and rewire your brain to crave them instead.

Also to ensure you eat correctly on a daily basis, taking in all your daily required macro nutrients.

And lastly next time you have a stressful or emotional urge pause before you hit the biscuit tin, think am I really hungry, it sounds insane but think with your belly, if the answer is no…. Step away from the chocolates.

So if that's not food for thought, I dunno what is!



Much Love

Linda xxx