...and we like to write about how we can all achieve better health, naturally. Sometimes tips on how you can DIY to better health and sometimes on the therapies that can make a difference to you, your health and wellbeing. Thank you for reading, We hope you enjoy :)
Breakfast like a king lunch like peasant and dine like a pauper- you might have heard that before, but is it fact or is it fiction when it comes to helping you lose weight?
In some recent research carried out under study conditions, participants ate exactly what they were given, no more no less. It was done over a period of four weeks and they ate the same amount of calories, they all ate the same nutritional values and same balance of protein, fat and carbs. Some ate the bigger meals in the morning and some in the evening.
The results?
The results showed that there is no difference in how much weight people lost. So you may think that when you eat makes no difference. BUT that’s not true & the reason why was actually in the participant feedback rather than the study results. There was a significant difference that in the real world(so non study conditions)I think will make a major impact and that is that, consistently the people that were having the Big Breakfast in the morning and the light meals later on reported that they weren’t hungry as opposed to the other group where they were eating bigger meals at night were hungry on the exact same calorie controlled diet.
So in the real world what’s going to work?
If you’re going to feel hungry, you’re going to eat more. If you’re not going to feel hungry, you’re going to eat less. So maybe there’s something in it after all. I don’t think there’s any one magic bullet when it comes to weight loss, I think a lot of it is in our heads, how we think and feel. There’s a lot of what we eat that messes with our hormones & hormones are a massive thing on how body stores fat, how our bodies work and function so there’s not just one thing, it’s a multitude of things. If we add in one thing here and one thing there, the whole combination together can make a really big difference in being successful in being a healthier weight and having a healthy body in general, not just that but the impact that has on our minds, because it’s frequently underestimated the amount of difference in what we eat has on our mental health. So it all combines!
Last month, we shared with you our idea for hosting specialist “Wellness Days” at Acorn. Each of our Practitioners has some very specific specialist skills, experience and knowledge that can be combined with a genuine passion to help you, dear reader, enjoy an awesome Wellness Day experience that we know you will love.
This initiative was initially inspired by World Cancer Day .. with a wonderful team of specialists here at Acorn who are super-passionate about helping people on their “cancer wellness journey”. So whether you (or a loved one) are experiencing treatment now … or, are now fully in remission and have experienced the rigors of cancer treatment in the past .. we CARE!
Yet we want to find out how we can absolutely create a beautifully supportive, nurturing, and practical experience for you at Acorn that will help you fill in any gaps that perhaps have been missed so far .. a bit of extra support if you need it, brainstorming, inspiration, motivation, pure TLC … treating you as a whole person, mind body and spirit.
So once again, may we invite our readers who have any experience of Cancer to participate in our Survey. Thank you to everyone of you who took the time to do that last month, we really appreciate what you have shared with us so far. And of course, we’ll be branching out into other specialist areas too !!
Help us to help you .. and others too – complete our Survey
Please take just 2 minutes out of your busy day to click below to complete this very short, concise Survey – it will help us to plan and select our Top 3 most important services that we’ll offer to our clients on the Wellness Day.
Just fill in the survey, then click SUBMIT. You’ll receive a confirmation from JOTFORM to let you know it’s been sent. Thank you so much for taking the time! We really appreciate your help. (Feel free to remain anonymous on the form if you prefer to do so, but if you do share your name and email address, we’re happy to get back to you personally)
Alternatively, please email me direct at eileen@eileenstrongcoaching.com to register your interest and receive the survey direct to your inbox.
I’m very pleased to be able to be able to offer what I refer to as “cancer wellness” and “cancer support” services to those who are on their cancer journey. I refer to it as “Cancer Journey” because even if a person experienced surgery or cancer treatment in the past, and is now living and enjoying life to the max while in remission from cancer, the treatment process itself can leave a person with many after-effects that leave them feeling very different from “who I was before Cancer”.
I was really interested to find that this is the theme MacMillan Cancer Support is using this year in recognition of World Cancer Day on Feb 4.
If this resonates with you, you may like to find out more about that from MacMillan direct. Here is an extract and link to their website .
MacMillan Cancer Support
For World Cancer Day on 4 February, we’re talking about the hidden costs of cancer. Alan, Helen and Judith share their stories about going through cancer and some of the challenges people may not be aware of”. Click here to visit MacMillan World Cancer Day
Using this as a timely theme for this year’s World Cancer Day, I would really like to reach out to you if you are one of those people on their “Cancer Journey” and invite your feedback .. because here at Acorn, we’d like to be able to do more to help you too.
Our “Cancer Wellness” Initiative at Acorn
We’ve got a team of Practitioners here who want to hear how we can do that. This is an exciting initiative for us, because whilst we are already providing a number of cancer wellness services, it helps us to raise awareness of the some of the lesser known challenges of living with the effects – and after-effects – of cancer treatment.
Let’s just have a quick chat about some of those very same challenges that my own cancer-journey clients, family members, friends and colleagues have discussed with me. You might find some of them quite surprising .. and this really is just scratching the surface:
Ooh ssshhhh don’t use that C World! ?! Some of us really feel very very uncomfortable about using that “C” word. I mean C as in Cancer of course. Nobody is denying that a cancer diagnosis IS a serious thing and something we don’t like to have shoved in our faces. But then, 30 years ago, we had the same issue with Mental Health. Oooh, don’t talk about it; just bung folks in a mental health hospital and give them electric shock treatment; that should sort the job out. Shouldn’t it? Well no, but it seems that there was a real stigma about mental health issues at that time; when only now are we being more open about it, with celebrities and even royalty openly discussing their mental health needs. Is it the same for the “C” word now? Take a deep breath. Just say it. It’s cancer. It’s not necessarily terminal. The more we find out about cancer with the advancement of technology and science, the more people are surviving it and living longer. There are more cancer survivors than ever before.
Social Needs – Following diagnosis, you notice that some friends or colleagues “go quiet” when you walk in the room, or even cross the road, when they see you (or your immediate family) coming. “They just don’t know what to say to me”. Imagine how this might feel if it happened to you, whether in good health or otherwise.
Victor V Victim Mindset – Close family, or members of your immediate “social support” circle keep telling you how sorry they are to hear about your terrible diagnosis .. when what you want to hear is less Doom and Gloom and a more pragmatic approach, because you don’t want to feel like a helpless victim; you want to feel optimistic and positive, not negative and disempowered.
Not Walking On Eggshells – Your brave ever-smiley face is actually .. just a brave, ever-smiley face. You’re feeling a lot more inner turmoil than you care to admit. But you haven’t found a way to let yourself be your authentic self, and just let your mind-body-emotions connect. It’s more important to be the strong one who holds it all together, just like you always have done. Does that sound like you?
Rebuilding Body Strength and Resilience – Following treatment, your digestive tract has been damaged; sexual intercourse is uncomfortable (even if you feel like doing it), you are constantly managing fluid retention and risk of oedema; not to mention wrestling with your new false teeth and lack of salivary glands. You didn’t find out about all that till later.
Hormones have gone haywire and you feel a bit like an emotional omelette. Your fuse is short, and your sense of humour seems to have done a complete by-pass. Your energy levels also dip and dive leaving you slightly manic or low and depressed in a heartbeat. Where did that “old you” ever go?
Mental health; recurrent ruminating that affects your sleep patterns .. The memory of the day you got your diagnosis still haunts you; the look on your doctor’s face, the tone of voice, the words .. even after years in remission. Ugh.
Loss of Confidence , Self Esteem, and Poor Body Image … we get that don’t we even when we feel relatively healthy. When you’re trying to find a way to come to terms with the now you, these are just some of the challenges you may experience.
And the list goes ever on. This really is – as I said before – just scratching the surface. Everyone’s experience is different, and unique to them.
Thing is, you’ve survived it all, and you are still here .. and you want to stay here too and live as full and active a life as you possibly can.
Do any of those specific challenges above resonate with you? Some of the key resources we can help support you with are:
Safe, specialist, massage & comfort-touch based relaxational therapy
Nutritional advice to specifically address minimization of symptoms during treatment and promoting after-treatment recovery
Counselling to help strengthen body image, rebuilding self-esteem and confidence, dealing with loss and grief
Expert Relationship Advice to help navigate the stress, strain, and even breakdown of relationships – our nearest and dearest can worry inconsolably about us, and they feel some stress and strain too.
Guided visualization and meditation techniques to help creative a positive mindset and induce the proven power of your own inner mind-brain-body medicine.
Gain insights into your body’s energetic (bio-resonant) frequencies and overall energy image, to highlight which areas might need some extra TLC as you move forward on the next part of your health and wellbeing journey.
The beauty of this offering can be that it helps to significantly reduce the overwhelm of knowing where to exert your energy and resources at a time when you need it most.
Help us to help others – complete our Survey
Please take just 2 minutes out of your busy day to click below to complete this very short, concise Survey – it will help us to plan and select our Top 3 most important services that we’ll offer to our clients on the Wellness Day.
Just fill in the survey, then click SUBMIT. You’ll receive a confirmation from JOTFORM to let you know it’s been sent. Thank you so much for taking the time! We really appreciate your help. (Feel free to remain anonymous on the form if you prefer to do so, but if you do share your name and email address, we’re happy to get back to you personally)
Alternatively, please email me direct at eileen@eileenstrongcoaching.com to register your interest and receive the survey direct to your inbox.
Many of the foods we eat can irritate and damage the very delicate and critically important digestive system in our bodies, which can in turn lead to anything from inflammation in the gastrointestinal tract to an immune response. Even nutrient absorption can be affected. One such food is wheat, which contains gluten.
What is gluten?
Gluten is a protein found in foods processed from wheat and similar cereals, including barley, spelt and rye. It contains gliadins and glutenins, the two main components of the gluten fraction of wheat seeds. Both are known intestinal irritants. Gluten is primarily used in modern food processing to give elasticity to dough, helping it to rise and to keep its shape, and often giving the final product a chewy texture. Greater refinement of the gluten leads to chewier products, while less refinement yields softer baked goods. One of the most common ways that we now take in carbohydrates is through grains in our diet, especially wheat. It is a staple food, with 600 million tonnes eaten every year. On average, it makes up roughly half of the calorie intake of a person’s diet. Unfortunately, gluten constitutes 78% of the total protein in modern wheat. What this means in practice is that gluten sensitivities and allergies are extremely common. In fact, it is thought that as many as 1 in 10 people are sensitive to gluten, while coeliac disease (an autoimmune condition related to gluten intake) affects almost 1 in 100 people.
Gluten sensitivity
Often, people with a sensitivity to gluten have no digestive symptoms at all. This can make diagnosis very difficult, and may also mean that appropriate dietary changes are not made by the sufferer. Where symptoms are present, some of the most common include:
bloating
diarrhoea
constipation
diverticulitis
digestive problems, even as drastic as Crohn’s disease
fatigue
upper respiratory tract problems (such as sinusitis and ‘glue’ ear)
depression
and behavioral problems in children (such as ADHD).
Of all the grains causing gluten sensitivities, wheat is the number one culprit. Gluten sensitivity is not a food allergy; it is a condition of the gut. After eating gluten-foods, undigested gluten proteins resting in the intestines are treated by the body like an invader, resulting in irritation of the gut and the flattening of the microvilli (finger-like protrusions that run along the intestinal walls). Without the microvilli, there is far less surface area with which to absorb nutrients from food. This is why those with gluten sensitivities can sometimes experience symptoms of malabsorption, such as chronic fatigue, nutrient deficiencies, anaemia, osteoporosis, nausea, skin rashes, depression and more. If gluten is eliminated from the diet, the gut usually heals and the symptoms disappear over time. This is therefore usually the recommended course of action, along with supporting supplementation (see below).
Coeliac disease
Unlike a gluten sensitivity, coeliac disease involves an abnormal immune reaction to partially digested gliadin. Coeliac disease is neither a food allergy nor an intolerance – it is an autoimmune disease. The body’s immune system attacks itself when gluten is eaten. This can cause serious and lasting damage to the lining of the gut and may mean that the body is unable to properly absorb nutrients from food. Symptoms of coeliac disease range from mild to severe bloating, excessive flatulence, diarrhoea, constipation, abdominal cramps, fatigue, aches and pains, flu-like symptoms, and/or mood swings. It is now recognised as one of the most common chronic health disorders in Western countries, yet it is still one of the most under-diagnosed. As the symptoms are so broad, they can be attributed to a wide range of other health conditions. As such, coeliac disease is often misdiagnosed as, for instance, fibromyalgia, lupus, multiple sclerosis, chronic fatigue, irritable bowel syndrome and Crohn’s disease.
Up until about a decade ago, most medical experts believed that coeliac disease was relatively rare and only affected about 1 in 2,500 people. It was also thought to be a disease that primarily affected children and young people. More recent studies, along with advances in diagnosis, have shown that the condition is much more prevalent.
Addressing the underlying problem
Gluten sensitivity can be one of the symptoms of a leaky gut syndrome. It is no surprise that when the lining of the intestines becomes more permeable, it can lead to a problem with many food sensitivities. Gluten (and dairy!) is very commonly encountered ‘maintaining cause’ in the digestive problems I see in my clinic. It is always worth looking back to determine what could have contributed to the body becoming more sensitized to particular food items- did it start after prolonged stress? Bouts of sore throats? Series of antibiotic treatments? Although removing gluten from the diet is always beneficial in such cases, it’s equally important to support the body in ‘sealing’ the damage which might have been contributing to unpleasant symptoms for even a number of years. Addressing the ‘root cause’ of the problem (whether it’s stress management or rebalancing the aftermath of antibiotic or steroid treatment) will help your body build resilience and minimise chances of a relapse.
Extra support for a gluten-free gut
As with a gluten sensitivity, coeliac disease is usually treated by simply adopting a gluten-free diet, i.e. excluding all foods that contain gluten. This is a permanent step in the case of coeliac disease, and usually recommended to be permanent in the case of gluten sensitivity- although it doesn’t have to be. A gluten-free diet is an effective means of preventing damage (or at least further damage) to the lining of the intestines and avoiding the associated symptoms of both conditions, even if such approach doesn’t address the problem in itself. And these days, maintaining a gluten-free diet isn’t the hardship it was even ten years ago. If you are happy to focus on only eliminating gluten out of your diet, there are now whole dedicated areas of most large supermarkets and health stores for “free from” ranges. However, as with any restricted diet, it is important to continue to ensure a balanced diet and the intake of a broad spectrum of nutrients. Given the reduced number of food choices, this can sometimes be a challenge, particularly in the early days. But careful meal planning will help, along with opting for seasonal, preferably organic food. In addition, many people with a gluten sensitivity or coeliac disease choose to supplement their diets for extra support, both in terms of nutrient intake and for digestive health. This can be particularly helpful where the gut is irritated and inflamed from years of gluten exposure. Multi-strain probiotics (beneficial bacteria), prebiotics (food for beneficial bacteria), Omega oils and the amino acid glutamine are particular favourites for supporting a healthy gut, lower levels of inflammation, along with gut wall integrity. What’s more, many of the better food and dietary supplements will also be gluten-free.
