Eatnourishthrive, Beaconsfield (2025)

02/06/2023

Do you experience a mid afternoon energy slump?

You’re not alone. It used to happen to me all the time too. There can be many reasons for feeling tired but one of the major causes is poor blood sugar management.

When we consume a diet high in carbohydrates and not enough protein or fibre to go with it, it is quickly digested and can cause our blood sugar levels to spike and then come crashing down aka the afternoon slump.

What we want is to keep blood sugar levels stable throughout the day.

The solution?

Eat more high fibre slow burning carbs like brown rice, brown bread, sweet potato, squash etc and always include a source of protein (meat/fish, eggs, cheese, tofu) and some veg. This combo will take longer to digest and keep blood sugar levels stable and you won’t get the peaks or troughs!
💚

26/05/2023

Salad with asparagus and salmon!

I am totally addicted to asparagus at the moment! It is in season right now and packed with folate and a great prebiotic. In this recipe I have combined it with salad and protein to create a lunch that is great for keeping blood sugar levels balanced all afternoon keeping you full till dinner!

Recipe (1 portion)
Handful of salad leaves
2 spring onions chopped
Chunk of cucumber chopped
1 -2 hard boiled eggs
1 ready poached salmon fillet (or tinned salmon) flaked
1/2 bunch of steamed asparagus

Olive oil vinaigrette/dressing. I make one with 3 tbsp olive oil, 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar, 1/2 tsp mustard powder, 1/4 tsp garlic salt, salt and pepper.

Method
Hard boil the eggs for 10 minutes then remove and cool in cold water. Peel and quarter
Remove the tough end of the asparagus and steam for 4-6 minutes depending on size
Compile leaves, onions, cucumber and salmon. Add the egg and asparagus and a good glug of dressing

Enjoy 💚

19/05/2023

Meal Planning!

What I find when seeing clients for weight management is the one thing they all have in common is they don’t meal plan for the day/week. This means when hunger strikes they are more likely to ‘grab’ the first thing they can find!

Planning makes life so much easier! It starts with filling the cupboards with healthy foods so you are able to ‘grab’ something healthy and/or have the right ingredients available to make your favourite meal.

Other tips are to:

🔹 Buy ready prepped food (pre-cut veg, ready washed salad leaves and pre cooked/tinned fish/protein) which are easy to compile into a quick salad or make into a soup.

🔹 Keep meals simple. Don’t over complicate and choose recipes with fewer ingredients

🔹 Batch cook and eat for a couple of days and/or freeze the extra

🔹Make double the night before for leftovers the next day.

Any other tips you can think of?
💚

16/05/2023

Protein

Do you know why protein is important in weight management?

🔹It is filling

🔹It takes longer to digest than simple carbs and keeps blood sugar balanced

🔹It reduces hunger cravings and stops us unconsciously eating extra calories in the form of junk food.

🔹It improves muscle growth and recovery

🔹It is low in calories

Adding sufficient protein to your meals really makes a difference. Give it a try 💚

15/05/2023

Midlife metabolism

Why is it as we age it gets harder and harder to keep weight off? And why are women more likely to gain weight around their middle in menopause? We all know we need to move more and eat less but so you know the type of food you eat has a profound effect on your overall metabolism and ability to lose or gain weight?

These are the common pitfalls and the areas I work to improve with my clients:

🔹Not eating enough protein

As we age our need for protein rises as we are less efficient at absorbing and using it. Protein is the biggest driver of hunger; it takes longer to digest and keeps our blood sugar balanced. Boosting protein in middle age helps prevent significant weight gain as it stops us unconsciously eating extra calories in the form of junk food.

🔹Skipping meals or grabbing a ‘healthy’ snack bar for lunch

Skipping meals leads to less regulation of blood sugar; most snack bars are high in sugar and low in protein causing you to feel hungry again soon after. Eating 3 regular meals during the day keeps blood sugar levels balanced and curbs overeating particularly when extreme hunger strikes and you reach for the first thing you can find!

🔹Over exercising or not moving enough

Over exercising can increase cortisol levels aka your stress hormone and increase inflammation as you age. High cortisol and inflammation together lead to midlife weight loss resistance! Exercise should be in the form of walking more and doing moderate intensity exercise, such as strength training and yoga a couple of times a week.

🔹drinking too much alcohol

Alcohol increases oestrogen levels by slowing down its detoxification; the liver favours the breakdown of alcohol over oestrogen. Higher levels of oestrogen affect the body’s response to insulin making it less able to use blood glucose efficiently and more likely to convert the glucose into fat.

🔹not prioritising sleep

Lack of sleep creates hormonal imbalances in the body that lead to weight gain by promoting hunger and unhealthy food choices the next day.

Leave your comments in the questions 💚

09/05/2023

A few photos from my week in the Yorkshire Dales. Lots of walking, lots of sheep 🐑 and the most fantastic raspberry scone cream tea from .askrigg. Sometimes you have just got to. I’m all about 80:20 💚

05/05/2023

What I do to improve my sleep

🔹Get morning sunlight

Getting exposure to sunlight in the morning can help you sleep at night because it helps reset your body’s “sleep clock”.

The light you are exposed to during the day helps your body work out when it’s time to go to bed (and when it’s time to wake up).

🔹Stop drinking coffee after midday.

Caffeine is a stimulant that helps keep you alert and awake. It blocks sleep-promoting receptors in the brain which is fine during the day but not helpful at night.

How quickly you detoxify varies from person to person. If you naturally detoxify slowly you could still have caffeine in your system 6-10 hours later, keeping you well…….alert and awake!

Having a cut-off of midday allows plenty of time to get the caffeine out of your system before bed.

🔹Put my phone down 1 hour before bed

Exposure to blue light in the hours before bed can hinder sleep. It suppresses the release of melatonin, a hormone that makes us feel drowsy.

Being exposed to blue light in the evening can trick our brain into thinking it’s daytime, disrupting our sleep cycle and leaving us feeling alert instead of tired. Switching off devices at least 1 hour before bed reduces exposure to blue light.

Try these suggestions and see if they help you 💚

04/05/2023

How well do you sleep?

One of the thing I have noticed as I have got older is I don’t sleep as well as I used to. I either seemed to have trouble getting to sleep and would be wide awake for what felt like hours or I would get to sleep then have the ‘wide awakes’ at 3 am. Either way I was not getting anywhere near the recommended 6-8 hours.

It was very frustrating.

Sleep is so important to our overall well-being and lack of sleep affects our energy levels and eating habits the next day.

I came to understand that everything I was doing during the day had an affect on my sleep at night. This included how stressful my day was, the more stressed the worse I slept. I realised I couldn’t get away with the things I did in my twenties and I needed to make sleep a priority!

Making some changes to my daily routine, taking time to ‘pause’ and calm my nervous system and prioritising sleep has made a massive difference to my overall sleep. I don’t sleep perfectly but I can say I sleep so much better and feel so much more in control.

Anybody relate to this?
💚

02/05/2023

I thought I’d take a minute to introduce myself as I’m not sure I have

My name is Jo and I am a nutritionist specialising in midlife health and weight management. I aim to empower people with knowledge and help them make better choices and build better habits to ‘thrive’ in middle age.

I spent 20 years in healthcare and then took a number of years off to bring up my family.

Having pr*****ed a disc in my back and being unable to get rid of the persistent and debilitating stiffness I went to see a body stress practitioner to see if they could help. This opened my eyes to the world of treating the body as a whole, the body’s innate ability to heal, if given the right conditions, and the part nutrition could play. I was hooked! I retrained and here I am 😃

Other facts
🔹I spent 2 years living in South Africa 🇿🇦
🔹I am a Gemini and love a good chat!
🔹I have one🐱 one 🐕 and a husband
🔹I love history and dragging the family round historic monuments 🤣

26/04/2023

Afternoon snack idea 💚

Got the munchies and want something healthy to snack on? Try this sweet potato hummus (recipe below). Can be paired with any vegetable crudities -this is just what I choose. It makes a nice filling snack or can be padded out with pitta bread/olives to make a light lunch.

Sweet potatoes and carrots are both good sources of beta carotene (vitamin A) and fibre. Beta carotene is a fat-soluble compound thus eating with hummus increases its absorption and beta carotene is good for skin and eye health. Celery also contains vitamin A, vitamin C and other phytonutrients that help support digestion and reduce inflammation. All three are great vegetables to include in the diet.

Recipe

1 large sweet potato (cooked and mashed)
1 can chickpeas (drained and rinsed)
1 tbsp tahini
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
3 tbsp lemon juice
1 clove garlic
1 tsp fine sea-salt
1 tsp ground cumin

Combine all ingredients in a food processor and purée until smooth

Let me know in the comments if you try it

Enjoy 💚

21/04/2023

It’s what you do consistently that counts!

This is an important reminder and especially true of nutrition. It’s all about creating good habits and doing the right thing most of the time. If you have a bad day today have a good day tomorrow! Don’t give up just because you went offline today. Making better choices 80% of the time is what ultimately counts!

It’s not about perfection 💚

19/04/2023

Benefits of strength training:

🔹 Helps burn belly fat. Lifting weights helps build lean muscle and the more muscle you have the quicker your metabolism will work. This means weight training helps boost metabolism which in turn burns more calories, meaning a reduction in body fat and improved weight loss.

🔹 Increases strength. Menopause leads to oestrogen deficiency that is associated with decreases in skeletal muscle mass and strength. Using weights helps offset this decline.

🔹 Helps preserve bone density. Weight training particularly resistance training is important for maintaining musculoskeletal health as we age. Resistance exercise helps exert a mechanical load on the bone which consequently leads to increased bone strength.

🔹 Increases insulin sensitivity. Low muscle strength has been associated with a higher incidence of insulin resistance in type 2 diabetes. Studies have found increasing muscle strength is associated with increased insulin sensitivity.

Strength train twice a week or more if possible.

Strength training is the foundation for optimal health and body composition as we age 💚

For more information click on the link in my Bio

16/04/2023

Sunday Fun. Spot the intruder! 💚

14/04/2023

There are lots of small changes you can make to improve your health. Small changes can add up to big differences over time. Over the next few months I will suggest some small switches you can easily implement. It’s all about better choices not perfection!

Let’s start with conventional bread vs sourdough.

What sets sourdough apart from conventional bread is that it is made by fermenting flour and water rather than adding yeast to the dough.

The benefits of this are:
🔹 It is good for your gut. The fermentation process for sourdough can lead to an increased number of prebiotic and probiotics-like properties which help improve gut health

🔹Can lead to better digestion. A 2021 review in the journal ‘Foods’ found that sourdough consumption might help improve the digestion of gluten.

🔹Sourdough has a lower glycemic index than bread that is not fermented and therefore doesn’t your blood sugar to rise as rapidly.

How about giving sourdough bread a go 💚

12/04/2023

Did you know that your lack of sleep could be causing your weight gain?

1. Not sleeping enough affects your hunger hormones (ghrelin and leptin). Ghrelin promotes hunger and leptin satiety (feeling full). A lack of sleep may affect the body’s regulation of these hormones. In one study, men who got 4 hours of sleep had increased ghrelin and decreased leptin compared to those who got 8 hours of sleep. This dysregulation of ghrelin and leptin leads to increased appetite and diminished feelings of fullness in people who are sleep deprived.

2. Additionally not sleeping enough can raise cortisol levels . Cortisol is your body’s stress hormone. Raised cortisol levels make it more challenging to burn fat and more likely to store it.

3. Lack of sleep is also associated with reduced glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity. When your insulin sensitivity decreases you are less able to turn glucose into energy and more likely to store it as fat.

Developing a good sleep routine and prioritising your sleep is essential. If you are not sleeping well you need to look at the reasons why and address them.

For more info link in my bio 💚

10/04/2023

This really appealed today having spent a lovely weekend with family. It is so easy to compare yourself to others and forget all the good things you have in your life.

Expressing gratitude is associated with lots of mental and physical benefits. Studies have shown that feeling thankful can improve sleep, mood and immunity!

Take a moment today to be grateful for all the good things you have in your life 💚

08/04/2023

5 tips for better sleep 💤

🔹Exposure to morning sunshine helps reset our circadian rhythm and make melatonin as the sun goes down preparing us for sleep

🔹Eating 3 hours before bed means you aren’t going to bed on a full stomach and your body can ‘rest’ rather than digest food.

🔹Unfortunately although you may fall asleep more quickly alcohol disrupts sleep and causes you to wake more frequently- thereby affecting the quality of sleep you get. Better limited!

🔹Blue light emitted from phones iPads and laptops reduces the production of melatonin making it harder to fall asleep

🔹Caffeine is an interesting one but some people find that they cannot detoxify caffeine effectively- thus that last afternoon/evening coffee could be making it harder for you to fall asleep. Avoiding caffeine after midday can help

Sleep is actually the foundation of all health. Eating well and exercising will not overcome the effects of poor sleep.

Developing a good evening routine and going to bed and waking up at the same time every day will also help.

For more advice DM me to book a free 30 minute discovery call

05/04/2023

Morning walk and saw this beautiful display of spring flowers in someone’s front garden. So nice to feel spring is here and see the flowers starting to bloom

☀️ Did you know getting morning daylight every day helps reset your circadian rhythm and helps you sleep 💤 better at night

☀️Aim for 15-20 minutes and longer if possible to set you up for the day ahead!

Try it and see what difference it makes to your sleep 💚

Eatnourishthrive