Archive for March, 2010
Wednesday, March 31st, 2010
LYG celebrates one year of blogs!
Can it be a year has passed already since we started the blog? Well it certainly is and I hope that the digestive advice that we have been posting each week has been of use.
From good gut friendly foods and recipes, to keeping off the weight post marriage, and even news surrounding our Gut Week annual event, it’s been a busy year.
But hopefully we can go from strength to strength in 2010! We are planning some changes to the site in the next few months which we hope will enhance your digestive health knowledge and give you plenty of food for thought. While still retaining our popular features we would love to hear from our regular visitors what they would like more of.
But it is (officially) the start of Spring, and while it seems the weather is not in a celebratory mood, there is something we can do that can get us active over the long weekend.
Spring cleaning! Yes, may seem like a dull pastime, but have you still got Christmas presents you’ve stuffed in drawers, or cards you haven’t recycled? How is the cupboard under the stairs looking? Are there things hanging in your wardrobe that you know you won’t wear but just haven’t parted with?
Doing a burst of spring cleaning can be therapeutic for the body and soul – cleaning out the cupboards, giving the home a really good scrub will help burn energy but mentally decluttering is excellent too. And if your discarded goods aren’t in too much of a shabby state there may well be charity shops who can make good use of your wares.
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Thursday, March 25th, 2010
Fighting the battle with greens
Around this time of year, hearing the phrase “How do you eat yours?” has a way of making you think specifically about certain chocolate products!
However, I ask the question, following some new research from Wageningen University in The Netherlands which looked specifically at why it’s a struggle to get children to eat their greens.
Apparently it all comes down to the way they are prepared and children prefer to have vegetables which have been steamed or boiled as they like their vegetables to be crunchy. While they only gave them carrots and french beans they did offer them to the children mashed, steamed, boiled, stir fried, grilled and deep fried. But the crunchiness and the way that boiling and steaming helps retain colour and flavour made it a winner.
And could this be a solution for bringing in more fruit and vegetables into your daily routine? How often do we look at changing the ways we eat certain foods. I’ve talked on a few occasions about the importance of diet on your digestive health, and particularly about the importance of fruit and vegetables.
For instance, how many of us have snacks during the working day? Are we gluttons for biscuits, cakes and crisps or do we have vegetables sticks – carrots, peppers, celery? Cartons of raisins aren’t just for the kids lunchboxes, look at having some yourself or having a small tupperware box of nuts and fruit. And you could easily buy a bag of carrots and make a weeks worth of snacks for a fraction of a cost of some other snack foods.
Some people will use fruit in a smoothie or drink fruit juice, but remember this can only count as one of your five a day. How often do you have fruit salad? Perhaps if you’re worried about fruit going off at home perhaps you can team up with some friends and work, all agree to buy a certain fruit and combine your handywork.
But anything that gets us eating more fruit and vegetables is always going to be good in my book – so if it works for you and those children, then steam or boil away!
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Monday, March 15th, 2010
Can you make a change this week?
Listening to the radio on the way to work, there was much discussion about the things we almost did. People who almost got certain grades in exams which meant they didn’t go to a certain university, didn’t do a certain course but had a different outcome on life.
I am sure with the annual No Smoking Day last week that there were people who did give up for the day, and perhaps some who have still given up – keep going if you are. But sadly there will be many who almost did and for them they haven’t yet been able to achieve that goal.
We’re at the half way point towards Easter and I wonder how many of you managed to give something up for Lent and have stuck to it? Or how many of us almost managed it? I know friends who have almost broken their promises, but have managed to stay strong! I took my Mother out on Friday night to thank her for being a great mother (I am one of four children so we share out the weekend!) and made sure that while I had a sweet I didn’t break that chocolate pledge – but I so could have almost made it.
So perhaps we need to make sure our digestive health pledges are realistic enough. We don’t want to almost get gut healthy, we want to be gut healthy. So what things can you realistically do?
Well some seem quite straight forward. Eating slowly is a good start – chewing releases enzymes which aid digestion and break down food to extract the goodness. Doesn’t seem too hard – must be achievable! Or maybe drinking plenty of fluids a day. Aiming for 2 litres is the goal but perhaps making sure you have a water bottle at your desk or when you’re out and about.
I know sometimes I am guilty of almost achieving my five fruit and vegetables a day. In fact I’m very good at almost doing it. It’s just actually making sure I achieve it is the main thing. Which is silly as I do notice the difference in my digestive health when I do! So why don’t we make sure we’re not almost doing but really doing! So this week that is my challenge to not almost manage but to really make 5 a day. What is yours going to be? And if you’re not sure which gut health option you should try for go to our Getting Gut Healthy section for some suggestions.
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Tuesday, March 9th, 2010
Is your gut needing a drink?
To many that might seem a bit of a strange statement? Why on earth would my gut be thirsty? Surely it would be my whole body that I need to cool down or maybe its not hot enough yet to be thinking about hydration?
Well no. Hydration is of course important for the whole body, you need water to maintain enough blood and other fluids to function properly, and if the body starts to lose a substantial amount of water more quickly than it’s replaced then the body can start to become hydrated.
And how does this affect the digestive system? Well a common effect of dehydration on your digestive system is constipation. So while you may not feel that dehydrated, certainly in your day to day you may not be noticing it and this is because thirst is not a good indicator, you may notice it more when you go to make a bowel movement.
To prevent dehydration, aim to drink 6-8 glasses of water a day – more when the weather is warm – and increase the intake in warmer climates or when taking any form of exercise.
However, I do know some people who really struggle to get the right amount of water in a day so here are some top tips from Dr Tony Leeds as to how to make sure you’re keeping your fluid levels right.
- Drink at least 6-8 glasses of water a day – in warm weather you’ll need to drink more.
- Don’t rely on thirst as a sign that you need to take a drink.
- Eat plenty of fruit and vegetables to help increase your fluid intake.
- Take water breaks rather than coffee breaks at regular intervals during the day.
- Keep a bottle of water on your desk at work to remind you to take a drink.
- Drink plenty of water before, during and after taking exercise – especially when the weather is warm.
So tomorrow make sure you have a water cooler break and not a coffee break. You may find your gut loves you for it!
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Monday, March 1st, 2010
Get gut healthy this Springtime
According to the Met Office today is the first day of Spring and certainly the bright sunshine and spring air is certainly helping to make me feel that the cold winter is long behind us.
Well I don’t know about you but it’s making me want to spend more time outside and that can mean plenty of ways to start shedding those extra winter pounds and start getting more gut healthy.
You may find, if you’ve not been too active over the winter (apart from trudging through the snow!) that you’re not quite ready to tackle a marathon. But as our Love Your Gut fitness expert, Sophie Christy says, there are plenty of good ways to get yourself back in the swing of things – no matter what your age.
“Adults should do a minimum of 30 minutes moderate intensity physical activity, five days a week. As a general rule, this sort of exercise will make you a little warm or sweaty, and slightly out of breath but no more.
Practically anything that gets the heart pumping faster is useful – gardening, mowing the lawn and weeding, keep us and the garden in good shape. How much has started to spring up in the garden already? Have you cleared away the winter leaves? Get out in the sunshine and give you and your garden a good workout.”
A few of my colleagues at Love Your Gut have also started back on some lunchtime walks, amazing what a bit of sunshine can do to the soul! But if you drive to and from work, it might be too dark for a walk once you get home so why not embrace the lunchbreak!
Let us know your ideas for the start of Spring and how, if you’re still keeping your Lent promises, you may be able to embrace them both.
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