BMI - Is this a poor indicator of health? It’s one of the most popular tools used in clinical practice and apparently schools are now sending letters home to parents if their child is tracking at a higher percentile (!) But is this a good tool? For those unfamiliar with BMI, it is calculated by dividing your weight (kg) by the square of your height (m). The number given will then fall into a category - Underweight, Normal Weight, Overweight, Obese. The limitations of this app

Intuative Eating - Principle 1 - Reject The 'Diet' Mentality. I want to take you through the Intuative Eating process, as mentioned in my Happy New Year post, dieting can lead to lots of different negative health consequences and in general is ineffective. A lot of these 'diets' that pop up here, there and everywhere usually require a huge amount of discipline, restriction, restraint, time, rigidity, social exclusion and when they inevitably fail, place blame upon the individ

FOOD ADDICTION - Can you really be addicted to food? There’s always a lot of chat amongst people about how they’re ‘addicted’ to a certain food, therefore.. they must cut it out! Media and research speculation has not helped this idea of food addiction, especially with the region in the brain linked with the reward system is also involved in the process of substance abuse. However there’s lots of reasons, aside from addiction that can explain why we receive the rewards respon

It's something that I get asked about a lot, should I be taking supplements? Will they improve my performance? Will they make me feel better? It seems to be an ever growing market, with huge stores dedicated to just selling the stuff, but how do you decide if you should be taking something and if so, what should you be taking? Let me start by saying this is an overview of how to decide to take a supplement - I am a) not saying you 100% should be taking anything and b) everyon

The concept of periodization when it come to a training program is well known and well applied within sport. The link between exercise and nutrition is also well known. However the concept of using the periodization model within nutritional practice appears to be very uncommon. There is of course a lot of research and advice on nutrition to consume pre/post training, however consideration of the bigger, long term picture in regards to specific goals, physiological adaptations

It gets to about the same time every year when people feel like they need to 'diet' to get in shape for summer/holiday. Yet these are the same 'diets' that are being promoted year on year... juicing/carb cutting/whole 30/calorie counting/5:2... etc. There is a reason they're heavily marketed and you have to do them every year for your 'summer bod' and do you know why? Because they're not sustainable. Yes you might lose weight and feel great for a few weeks/months, however maj

I hear a lot of people talk about starting a diet or wanting to lose weight and their immediate first thoughts are 'I'm going to cut out carbohydrates' OR 'I'm going to stop eating bread'. As that is supposedly the reason behind weight gain. This photo shows a comparison between 2 different types of carbohydrates - a banana and a slice of bread. As you can see, a banana actually has a higher carbohydrate content than bread, and also a higher sugar content - yet when people de

I have decided to write a slightly different post today to my usual Sport Nutrition. I have spent the last 6 weeks working at a clinic for girls suffering with eating disorders and it has really got me thinking about eating intuitively, what does being intuitive actually mean...as ultimately in regards to food and our relationship with food, is that one of the goals we thrive to achieve? It has had me thinking about whether I'm 100% intuitive? How intuitive are all the client

Dietary fibre provides a whole host of benefits to our health and studies have shown it to prevent against several diseases. In 2015, the Government set new guidelines for the recommended intake of dietary fibre we should consume daily to 30g (previously 18g) for adults. According to research many people aren't consuming near this figure, so I wanted to show what 30g of fibre looks like in food forms. If you're only consuming 3 meals a day (breakfast, lunch and dinner), that

Gut Health has had a growing amount of attention recently, discussing it's impact on our overall health, as well as a spectrum of diseases an unhealthy gut can cause. I wanted to touch on this and elaborate on the importance of a healthy gut for athletes and their performance. Our gut is probably one of our most important organs in the body, it is the long tube that starts at the mouth and ends at the anus. It Is involved in the initial processing of food (once entered from t