Over the last few weeks, I have had the privilege to speak to female soccer groups about the importance of nutrition on their health. The ages ranged from 13 to 50, and they had various skills, abilities and aspirations.
The presentations aimed to highlight how important nutrition was for their hormonal cycle and reducing the risk of injury.
Research shows that the female menstrual cycle can affect the risk of injury for anyone doing sport and that nutrition is vital in supporting the body.
I loved doing the presentation and seeing the kids, particularly, getting engaged about how they could improve their nutrition.
Many of them had never had the concept of what they ate affected their body. Some of them didn’t even know what nutrition meant for them.
So my question to you is…
Why do you eat? Are you eating just to fill a void or fill that hunger pain?
If you’re a busy mum, you might have grabbed a coffee or a piece of toast and run out the door.
Is that nourishing your body?
Does that support your energy for the whole day?
Do you get to the other end of the day and start to fall flat? Maybe this time, grabbing a chocolate bar while you’re going to get the kids from school or doing the last-minute dash to get all of your work done and finish your day.
Your head feels foggy at this stage, and you have no energy left. You wonder how to get through the evening of creating a healthy dinner and tidying up.
This scenario occurs so often that you think it is due to your age or make the excuse that you’re a busy mum.
You don’t think it is due to what you eat (or maybe even not eating….)
Well I’m here to tell you it does…… It has a lot to do with what you’re eating.
In the presentation to the soccer groups, I gave the example of my childhood. I was a competitive horse rider. We did competitions every weekend with our horses; it was so much fun.
Thankfully my mum was on the ball about how the feed for the horses affected their performance. She knew that there were certain foods the horses needed to perform their best every single week.
Each horse had a different diet according to their needs. If we mixed the feeds, we sometimes had chaos on our hands. One of my horses would go crazy on oats and was uncontrollable. A bit like processed sugar does to some kids.
But why don’t we think about how food affects us?
When I was a teenager, my diet was not the healthiest. It was not due to a lack of effort from my mum. I look back now and think how she put up with me, considering my profession now!
I was very active as a child – horse riding and water skiing – we were always out and about, but I was always tired and dragging myself through every day. I didn’t want to get out of bed, and if I got any chance, I would fall asleep. I was constantly tired and couldn’t think clearly. In one of my competitions, my brain fog was so bad that I jumped the show jumping fence backwards.
My mum always tried to feed me healthy food, but I wasn’t listening.
So, years later, now that I eat better, my energy is much better. I have more consistent energy and better clarity of thought.
From this story, I was impressing on the girls and ladies that what they eat affects their body. That food is fuel and vital to health, hormone balance, energy production, and injury prevention.
While you may not be a social sports warrior, you are busy and active throughout the day. Your body needs key nutrients and quality food to support you through each day.
Take a moment to consider what you are eating and how it could be affecting you daily.
Why not use good nutritious foods to fuel you through each day.
If you’re regularly eating processed foods or foods on the run that aren’t nutritious, you’re not giving your body the proper nutrients, yet you’re expecting your body to perform and do the myriad of tasks that busy women need to do these days.
Do you find yourself tired and run down or even struggling to remember where you put something or why you went into the room?
Could your body be just crying out for better quality nutrition?
I advocate the balanced plate method of eating
1. At least half your plate should be filled with salad, vegetables , or fruit. Enjoy colour and variety to maximise key vitamins, minerals, and nutrients.
2. Add protein – this is about a quarter of the plate. Protein sources include beans, legumes, nuts, seeds, red meat, chicken, fish, eggs, cheese, and quinoa.
3. The remaining quarter of the plate is for carbohydrates. This can include wholegrain bread, pasta, brown or basmati rice, potato, and quinoa. These sources can be gluten-free if required.
4. The last (but not least) is to ensure essential fats from olive oil, avocado, nuts, seeds, or deep sea fish like Atlantic Salmon.
At the end of the talk, it was so interesting that parents came up to me and commented that they try to get their child to eat more variety, but some of the kids only like beige-coloured foods.
I’m really looking forward to hearing how these kids go in the future because so many of them, especially the younger kids, came up to me and said, “I didn’t realise I needed to do this.”
If you want to understand more about how food affects you, I’d love to be able to help.
Let’s chat about your eating plan and how we can maximise your nutrition, even when you’re busy. It’s all about making healthy meals easily.
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This is how gut microbes can influence weight!
Probiotics can help you gain weight or lose weight by interacting with our genetics, food and metabolism.
And yes, I did say lose or gain weight……..
Firstly, let me explain that the trillions of microbes in the gut need to be varied, meaning that there should be a large variety of species. There are many different species (or breeds) of microbes, and they all have their place in aiding health — the more variety and balance, the better health results.
Back to the weight loss or weight gain issue….
Do you eat yogurt and berries for breakfast? Thinking that it’s helping you lose weight?
Well, Lactobacillus acidophilus (like the species found in yoghurt) has been connected to weight gain.
I am not saying throw your yoghurt and berries in the bin. Instead, I am suggesting looking at the overall picture. If Lactobacillus acidophilus is the predominant micro-organism of the gut, then weight gain can result.
It is about the variety of species of gut microbes. Imagine if we only have trained german shepherd guard dogs in the world. It may be a safe world, but I am sure that other breeds may be more suitable as a family pet.
While Lactobacillus acidophilus is associated with weight gain, other Lactobacillus species correlate with weight loss.
Species like Lactobacillus plantarum, Lactobacillus gasseri, and Bifidobacteria animalis have been found to support weight loss.
Want to lose weight?
Look at your gut flora to support your goal.
Tests can be performed to identify the predominant species of the gut, and specific species can be utilised to support weight changes.
Want more information about your gut health?
Or want to look at all the factors contributing to weight gain, I’d love to be able to help.
