Nutrition Advice - Healthy Diet & Weight
Are you tired of fad diets that promise quick fixes but fail to deliver lasting results? As a certified Nutritional Therapist & Nutritionist based in Exeter, with clinics in Exminster and Topsham, I'm often asked about the key to weight loss and my approach to weight management. Let me share with you the foundation of my philosophy and how it can transform not just your weight but your overall health and wellbeing.
The main focus of Nutritional Therapy is to support your body to heal itself and come back into its natural balance. It looks at acute and a chronic medical conditions and return your body to its natural healthy state.
This can result in natural changes to your weight.
Unless you are consuming significantly over or under your daily intake of calories, or have a weight related medical condition, we may not even look at your calorie intake.
The focus is on creating a healthy balanced diet, rehydrate the body and balancing your blood sugar response. All of these things will support a strong metabolism, hormone balance and good energy levels.
So what does a diet, that will naturally bring my weight back in to the right balance for my body look like?
- Our diets are often full of highly processed food. These often contain a number of different chemicals, sugar, salt, trans and hydrogenated fats. These foods often destabilise our blood sugar levels, leave us, feeling hungry, and provide little nutritional value. They can also have negative impact on the cells of our body, our brain and endocrine system, a healthy diet excludes as much processed food as possible.
- The body needs to be well hydrated. Most people will need around two litres of water a day. If you drink caffeine, alcohol, smoke/vape, consume sugary foods, exercise a lot, or are regularly stressed these will all have dehydrating effect on the body and you will need to increase your water intake. Ideally removing caffeine, smoke/vape, sugar products and moderating your alcohol consumption should also be considered. A healthy diet will always start with a well hydrated body.
- Importantly blood sugar needs to be well balanced, today’s modern diet encourages fluctuates in blood sugar levels. This has a stressful impact on the endocrine system and can result in weight gain around the abdominal region and can pull other key hormones out of line, resulting in a slow metabolism. It can also cause dehydration, energy fluctuations and changes in mood. There are a number of things you can do to stabilise the blood sugar levels as part of a health diet. This is mainly done through well timed meals and snacks, with balanced macronutrients. Guidelines for balancing micronutrients across our calorie intake is: complex carbohydrates 50%, healthy fats no more than 35%, protein 15%. This should be roughly balanced across each meal, rather than a target for the end of the day.
- Another key to a healthy diet is having the right balance of micronutrients. To achieve this, we need to eat a wide variety of foods that provide us with all the vitamins and minerals it needs for its complex chemical processes. This includes fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, grains, essential fatty acids. Depending on dietary preference, this should be eaten alongside a selection of meat, eggs, fish, dairy, legumes.
- You may also want to consider the nutritional value your food holds. For example, how has it been processed? Is it organic? Is it seasonal? How has it been stored? How will it be prepared and cooked? This will support your body in healing itself and coming back into balance.
- A healthy gut is also important. Your body needs stomach acid and digestive enzymes, to breakdown and use the nutrients you’re consuming. Microbiome is also important, in supporting digestion, your immune system and your mood. in some studies, poor Microbiome has been linked to obesity. Fibre is important to maintain a healthy gut acting in some instance as a prebiotic, it also helps with the regulation of blood sugar and the ability for the body to excrete waste.
For nutritional therapy, this is only the start. Alongside the basic principles I look in detail at medical history, lifestyle habits, and overall wellness to not just support weight loss, but ensure an optimal level of health. The rest is a personal diet and lifestyle plan that is specific to the needs of your body, is achievable and will put good habits in place for life. If you would like to know more contact me on the details below.
Nutritional Therapy in Exeter.
Looking for a dietitian, nutritionist or nutritional therapist? Want to know what the difference is and how I can help you?
Want to find out how a changed to your nutrition can improve your health? Contact me here for your free 15 minute nutritional therapy consultation.
Ready to book your nutritional therapy appointment, book your appointments in Topsham, Exminster or online here.
What is Nutritional Therapy?
Nutritional Therapy is a holistic approach to health and wellbeing that focuses on using food and nutrition to support the body's natural healing processes.
I provide personalised nutrition plans tailored to individual needs.
Whether you're looking to improve digestion, boost energy levels, manage weight, improve your nutrition intake, or address specific health concerns. Nutritional Therapy can offer valuable insights and support on your journey to optimal health.
My Nutritional Therapy diploma is held with the School of Health, and I am a registered Nutritional Therapist with the Federation of Nutritional Therapy Practitioners.
What is the difference between a; dietitian, nutritionist and nutritional therapist.
Dietitian's - Dietitian's provide practical guidance to sick individuals to help them make appropriate, healthy choices for a specific medical conditions. They often work as part of a clinical team, including for example doctors, nurses, physiotherapists etc. They take a direct approach to the illness being presented to them, not the body as a whole.
Nutritionists - Registered nutritionists are qualified to provide information and nutrition advice about food and eating habits. They may take a similar approach to a Nutritional Therapist. Nutritionists normally operate out of private practices. Dieticians will normally operate out of the NHS.
In general, nutritionists provide evidence-based information and guidance about the impacts of food and nutrition on the health and wellbeing of humans
Nutritional Therapists - Nutritional therapists practice complementary medicine, taking a holistic approach to the symptoms that are presenting in the body, They provide recommendations for diet and lifestyle to reduce or prevent health issues and illnesses. They work on the belief that the body has underlying nutritional and biochemical imbalances that lead to poor health, including mental health problems.
You can view my online brochure here, click on the square in the corner to make it screen size
