Empowered Nutrition

12/09/2025

If September makes you want to get back into routine and get organised, why not use that energy to help you nourish yourself?

Meal prepping can help you make sure that your good nutrition intentions aren't derailed by an empty fridge! My latest blog provides lots of ideas.

Read it here: https://www.empowerednutrition.org.uk/how-to-start-meal-prepping-this-september/

09/09/2025

For anyone having treatment via a port, this new range of adaptive clothing looks like a bargain. Everything is £20 or less. When I last looked for adaptive clothing with port access, sweatshirts were about £70, which is not what you want to pay for something to sit around a hospital in! Launching next week.

We're proud to be launching a 28-piece collection of adult adaptive clothing which honours the legacy of breast cancer campaigner Nicky Newman.

The new range of adaptive clothing is aimed at people with additional needs that includes openings for feeding tubes, discreet pockets for stoma bags, easy on fastenings and metal-free zips. Back in March 2023, Nicky took to her Instagram to ask if she could partner with a brand to create an adaptive clothing range. She was listening to her community, who were going through intense treatment themselves and struggling to find clothing suitable and affordable for their treatment needs.

The range includes navy joggers (£16), that are metal free and have side zips at the waist, blue logo t-shirt (£11) that has easy PICC line access and a peg opening. Cream wide leg jogger (£16) that has a side zip at the waist, adjustable waist and a concealed stoma bag pocket. Palm springs cream hoody (£20) metal free, easy access to side seam and underarm zips. Blue seashell sweatshirt (£18), a grey wide leg jogger (£16) and St Tropez grey sweat (£18) with a grey wide leg Jogger (£16) – all having easy access to side seam and side zips.

13/08/2025

I've definitely been enjoying a slower summer pace which includes not being on social media so much. However, over the last couple of weeks I've been getting feedback from the women who took part in my recent Healthy Metabolism, Healthy Weight Course, and I'd love to share some with you.

In menopause it's so common to experience weight gain that just doesn't respond to the strategies you used earlier in life. I know so many women are frustrated by this, and yet.....there is so much more to looking after our post menopausal metabolism than losing weight. I created Healthy Metabolism, Healthy Weight to explore a better way to lose weight healthily, but also to really dig into many of the nourishment and lifestyle factors that a woman's body is calling out for in menopause.

It makes me so happy when course participants are happy at the end of a course, and in this case they really were 😍

If you'd like to be the first to know when I run this course again, then comment "YES PLEASE" below and I'll be sure that you are in the loop!

07/08/2025

If you are about to start chemotherapy for breast cancer, then it would be worth your while testing your vitamin D level and supplementing if it's low.

There is considerable controversy over the clinical usefulness of vitamin D supplementation. This mainly revolves around the discrepancy between observational studies (that show associations between low vitamin D levels and an extraordinarily large range of health problems) and randomised controlled trials that often fail to show clear benefits from supplementation. Hence mainstream medical “experts” often make sweeping generalisations, rejecting its value in modern health care.

But these generalisations ignore the many trials with vitamin D that have demonstrated important and valuable clinical outcomes. For example, results of a recent clinical study in Brazil suggest that low-dose vitamin D supplementation nearly doubled the response of breast cancer patients to chemotherapy.

The research included 80 women over the age of 45 who were preparing to begin treatment at the oncology outpatient clinic of the general and teaching hospital (“Hospital das Clínicas”) at the Botucatu School of Medicine at São Paulo State University. The women were divided into two groups: one group of 40 received 2,000 IU (international units) of vitamin D daily, while the other 40 received placebo tablets.
Most of the participants in the study had low blood levels of vitamin D, defined as less than 50 nmol/L (20 ng/mL). After six months of cancer treatment and supplementation, 43% of the women taking vitamin D saw their tumours disappear following chemotherapy, compared to 24% in the placebo group. All participants underwent neoadjuvant chemotherapy, a treatment used to shrink tumours before surgery.

“Even with a small sample of participants, it was possible to observe a significant difference in the response to chemotherapy. In addition, the dosage used in the research [2,000 IU per day] is far below the target dose for correcting vitamin D deficiency, which is usually 50,000 IU per week,” says Eduardo Carvalho-Pessoa, president of the São Paulo Regional Brazilian Society of Mastology and one of the authors of the article published in the journal Nutrition and Cancer.

For more information see: https://scitechdaily.com/vitamin-d-boosts-breast-cancer-treatment-success-by-79-study-shows/

06/08/2025

I brought these tinned sardines back from Portugal. At €4.50, I wanted to see what set them apart from the tinned sardines I buy from UK supermarkets for 60p.

They were spicy sardines, so were dressed with chilli, cloves, salt & pepper, bay leaf as well as some carrot and cucumber. I paired them with a rainbow carrot salad for lunch today.

The verdict?

Well, they tasted like good quality sardines. No skin separation like I often experience with cheap tinned sardines. There were no bones, but this is a negative for me - I like to eat the soft bones for the calcium they provide. But unfortunately the taste didn't pair well with my salad and its dressing, so in the end I was a bit disappointed 🙁 They would have worked better with a more neutral base, like potato.

Sometimes you have to try and learn about different flavours! And I still will have benefitted from the omega 3 fatty acids.

26/07/2025

I was very impressed with the fresh food on offer almost everywhere during a short stay in Portugal last week. Every cafe that sold sandwiches seemed to also have freshly caught fish and salad on the menu.

We took the gamble of staying half board, but I forgot to take any photos of my evening meals because it was a buffet and quite busy. I certainly didn't go hungry - plenty of salad to start with, then always fish (plus meat for those who wanted it) and more vegetables. I ate more fruit than I would do at home, but it was perfectly ripe and delicious.

I wish it was as easy to get fresh, local, minimally processed food when eating out in the UK!

Always grateful for food and constantly thinking of those in the world who do not have access to it.

10/07/2025

If cancer or its treatment has left you feeling less vibrant and energised than you were before, then have you ever wondered whether nutrition could help?

The answer is YES! I'll be talking about how what you eat can help with your energy this Sunday, 12-1pm at Hello Love in Bloomsbury, London. If you have had a cancer diagnosis, then it's completely free. Just email Jane at info@hellobeautiful.org to book your place.

I'd love to see you there!

02/07/2025

I've been saying for years that we need to have an intelligent, nuanced conversation around sugar and cancer. Let's get away from the polarisation of "sugar feeds cancer" vs "all carbs get broken down to glucose anyway so reducing dietary sugar is pointless." A high sugar diet is cancer promoting, but not because "sugar feeds cancer". Prof Robert Thomas is the UK's first NHS integrative oncologist 👏👏

24/06/2025

I'm only just getting around to posting some photos from the Nurture & Nourish retreat on Saturday.

It was a truly heart-warming day of connection and support among women who all shared the desire to empower themselves after a breast cancer diagnosis. We had absolutely delicious food provided by Sanctuary Farm in East Sussex, much of which was grown on the farm. Exercise that was both playful and instructive from Carolyn Garritt, and thoughts on lifestyle factors and essential oils for better sleep from Rach C-K. I talked about using nutrition to support health, energy and vitality.

I drove home in a lovely bubble of tired happiness, having I'm sure gained as much support as I gave, if not much more.

I'm sure this will be an event that happens again.

My regret is not taking photos of the lambs and goats!

18/06/2025

It's watercress season!

You probably know by now that I'm a little bit obsessed with the benefits of cruciferous or brassica vegetables. If it feels too hot at the moment to be steaming broccoli, then fear not - watercress is a member of the brassica family and it packs a nutritional punch!

Watercress is particularly high in vitamins K and A (in the form of beta-carotene) as well as calcium and manganese. But it's when it comes to its antioxidant and phytonutrient content that watercress really shines.

Watercress is the best source of a compound called PEITC. This is an isothiocyanate that's related to the compound sulphoraphane that's found in broccoli sprouts. In vitro, PEITC has considerable anticancer activity, including stimulating apoptosis (programmed cell death) inhibiting metastasis, suppressing angiogenesis (formation of a new blood supply) and reducing proliferation. It also affects multiple cancer signalling pathways, such as NF-KB and MAPK.

PEITC can also affect gene expression and (again in vitro) can even restore the normal function of mutant p53 proteins, turning its tumour suppressing function back on. Many cancers have p53 mutations. A 12 week trial of a PEITC extract in people with advanced oral and oropharyngeal cancers found that it improved progression-free survival. The study authors proposed that this was as a result of restoring p53 function.

Make sure to chew your watercress well, as this releases the enzyme that converts a precursor compound into the active PEITC.

09/06/2025

The Healthy Metabolism, Healthy Weight online course starts next Monday, 16th June, at 7pm!

Who is it for?
It's for you if you are a woman in menopause or perimenopause and you want to feel more comfortable in your body again. Weight gain (especially around the middle) is something you'd love to address, but diets you've used before don't work. You also know that looking after your health is very important at this stage - you want to avoid or address prediabetes, cardiovascular disease or non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Oh, and sleeping better would be a bonus.....

What's provided?
Live calls with me every Monday evening (recorded for you to watch later if you can't make it), a weekly recipe book, helpful resources, a supportive Facebook group.

How will it help me?
I could tell you, but it's better if you read these testimonials from women like you who completed the course at the start of this year 😍.

How do I sign up?
Go to https://my.practicebetter.io/ #/5eccf29a2a902910706ba999/bookings?c=683dc12b56765382ebd0ed1a

05/06/2025

I am delighted and very excited to share that I will be talking about "Nutrition to Beat Cancer Related Fatigue" at the Hello Love studio in Bloomsbury (very near Holborn station) on Sunday 13th July.

To my mind, cancer related fatigue doesn't get talked about enough. It affects a very high percentage of people during active treatment, and for some people it can also linger well after active treatment has finished. It may not be as serious as cancer, but it can have such a detrimental affect on quality of life that we need to have strategies to deal with it. Nutrition and lifestyle can be a key part of your toolkit to help reduce cancer related fatigue!

The Hello Love space is home to the Hello Beautiful Foundation (https://www.hellobeautiful.org/). Hello Beautiful regularly offers a wide range of workshops, talks and classes around holistic health and non-toxic living related to cancer. Many of these are free to people with a cancer diagnosis! Over the years I have benefited from breathwork, sound baths and workshops by other cancer charities using the space. It has been a wonderful resource in my own healing.

If you are interested in attending on 13th July and you have had a cancer diagnosis, then get in touch with Jane from Hello Beautiful on info@hellobeautiful.org who can sign you up. I hope to meet some of you there!