Your gut, aka “the inside of your belly”, is your body’s literal “second brain”. For years, the medical world has been trying to figure out what causes our moods to change. And they also wanted to understand why our reactions to life’s ‘challenges’ are sometimes experienced as stress, anxiety or depression and at other times simply as a ‘blip’.    

Well, it appears that there’s a much needed chemical that’s being blamed for some of the above which has also an influence on your ‘potty’ habits.

How strange is that?

Your mood and your bathroom habits are linked to an important chemical in our body called serotonin. Most of it is produced in the gut…. but only when you have a healthy balance of gut bacteria or flora, as it’s sometimes called.

Out of balance gut flora? That equals to not much serotonin production, mood problems and bowel problems. Because what we put inside of our bellies is directly related to our emotional health and toileting issues.

Have you ever had an upset stomach and running to the bathroom because you were stressed or because you experienced a panic attack?

Well, there have been many scientific studies that linked mood problems to gut problems and vice versa.

Spokesperson from UCLA: “Researchers have known that the brain sends signals to your gut, which is why stress and other emotions can contribute to gastrointestinal symptoms. This study shows what has been suspected but until now had been proved only in animal studies: that signals travel the opposite way as well.’Time and time again, we hear from patients that they NEVER felt depressed or anxious until they started experiencing problems with their gut,’ [Dr. Kirsten] Tillisch said. ‘Our study shows that the gut–brain connection is a two-way street.'”

WOW. Such a big AHA moment.

They recently even tested IBS suffers and noted that they can be both low in serotonin [causing their constipation] or have too high levels [causing the opposite effect]

Struggling with cravings and weight issues? This chemical also plays a part in reducing your appetite; and new research is looking into its role in treating obesity. This is one busy chemical, is it not!

So…..Is your gut balanced with 85% good bacteria and 15% bad bacteria? Because that’s the recipe for improving serotonin levels for better health and mood. Some symptoms of an unhealthy flora balance include gas, bloating, nausea, sugar cravings, and more. 

The best way to set this right is by topping up with probiotics. They feed the good bacteria and thus improve serotonin production. Probiotics can be taken in pill form or you can get them through your diet.

Excellent sources of probiotics include fermented or cultured foods and beverages, such as

• Yogurt
• Kefir
• Naturally fermented sauerkraut
• Apple cider vinegar
• Japanese Miso
• Tempeh [fermented soya beans]
• Organic brine cured olives and gherkins

All these will help you to digest food properly, absorb vital nutrients, lower sugar cravings, prevent constipation and help maintain a healthy state of mind and mood. And now, besides taking my probiotic supplement, I’m off to buy some naturally fermented food…

How about you?

Until next time, yours in health 🙂

Nicki Kelly.

Can’t say NO to cravings?

Are you worried about always needing something to eat after dinner? 

Then let me help you.

I could come over to your place and watch out for you. I’d simply block you from grabbing that glass of wine at night, or those crisps, cakes or whatever funky stuff you’re compelled to eat or drink.

But that’s a seriously expensive weight loss service. Plane tickets, taxi fare, etc. (eye roll) 

Therefore, let’s try something more sensible.

Cravings, especially those after dinner, mainly occur due to these following reasons.

They could be:
1) You’re a little bored..Can happen. Try to do something else besides eating. Maybe watch an exciting movie, paint your nails, call a friend. How about eating a few frozen blueberries or a pickled cucumber? They are probably not what you had in mind, but the are great ‘cravings interrupter’

2) If  you genuinely would enjoy something to eat after dinner, have something lovely: guilt free fresh fruit and a protein and nut ball with a green tea.

3) Could  you actually be hungry? Eat something sensible. Totally acceptable to eat when hungry  🙂 

4) You perhaps got into a bad habit and now you’ve created a routine. Easy to do, you know. It does take a little work to un-do this.

5) Your body is depleted in certain nutrients and keeps craving the very foods that continue to deplete it. How crazy is that?

When you give your body nourishing foods, they will help your physical cravings to subside. But in the end it’s you who has to break the habit itself. Retrain your bad habit to form new good habits. Eat foods that balance your blood sugars so they don’t dip and push you to eat more than you really need. Always add vegan protein rich foods to your meals, because they’ve been proven to help with keeping you fuller for longer. 

Craving alcohol? Swap it out. Give your body a delicious green juice instead.

I get you. It’s not the same. But stick with it. The new habit will take about 3 weeks to lodge itself into your mind….and from then on you will be craving a delicious healthy juice instead. 

In addition, when you regularly crave alcohol or certain foods, you could be deficient in Chromium, Magnesium or Tryptophan

Do you want to know which foods contain those? 

CHROMIUM, it’s a trace element and small amounts can be found in 

• Broccoli
• Nutritonal Yeast and Brewer’s Yeast
• Sweet potato
• Corn
• Oats

MAGNESIUM

Magnesium helps to calm the nerves and it’s a very common mineral deficiency. Some sources state that over 80% of people in America are deficient in magnesium. 

So where to find magnesium..

• Dark leafy greens, like spinach, kale and chard
• Raw cacao
• Raw cashew nuts
• Almonds and Pumpkin Seeds
• Black beans

 

TRYPTOPHAN

Tryptophan is an important compound. It’s the precursor to serotonin in the body, the hormone that’s responsible for happiness. Foods that are high in tryptophan give you the building blocks you need for balancing your hormones and feeling better plus it plays a role with a restful sleep. Find it in…

• Tofu
• Oats
• Beans
• Lentils

So now you’re better set up to beat those pesky cravings.

Need more help? Contact me in my Facebook group page. I might be able to give you some more tips. See you there.
Yours in Health & Skinny Jeans,
Nicki Kelly
The Vegan Weight Loss Mentor. 

Why do I place this nice photo here?

I want to remind you what ‘real’ food looks like. 

Soy derivatives. I call them ‘plastic food’. Although I think it might even be healthier to eat plastic instead of the soy derivatives.

I get pretty mad when I have to write about this subject.

Why?

Because I want everyone to eat well, eat natural clean foods and be healthy. And soy derivatives don’t fit into this picture.

Firstly, because soybean crop has to withstand heavy applications of pesticides. Therefore every time you consume regular TVP made of soya [textured veg protein]  you’ll be getting an unwanted dose of it, unless it says organic.

Food processors are always looking to increase profits.  And that’s totally ok. I’m not against them making a profit. But what I am against is them making a buck without producing ‘honest’ foods and feeding us stuff that makes us sick.

Substituting cheap soy derivatives as a filler for part of the volume is one way that food processors “extend” our foods.

Soy by products and derivatives are very VERY cheap. A few months ago one of our favourite brands changed yet another one of their products to included low cost soy protein. This to allowed them to produce a cheaper product. Cheaper to them,…. not us.

Personally, I’m not going anywhere near it. Except when my vegan husband wants to eat it. I cook it for him, but I eat one of my chickpea burgers instead, whilst he is eating ‘Frankenfood’.

If you see any of these following items in the ingredient list of your pre-packed foods, put it back on the shelf and run the other way. But beware….finding soy free foods is not going to be easy.

Challenge: find me a supermarket bread or vegan sausage without it. Please. I bet I will hear crickets for some time to come. 95% of them contain either these soy items below or similar…

Soy Protein Isolate: De-fatted soybean meal is mixed with a cocktail of various chemicals to remove the fibre (and remove any other useful nutrient) to precipitate out the protein. These protein curds are then dipped into another chemical solution and spray dried at extremely high temperatures.

Textured Soy Protein: TSP is used as a meat replacement in vegan and vegetarian products. It’s made by forcing de-fatted soybean flour through a special machine called an extruder. The temperature and pressure are extreme and here comes what I don’t like either: it changes the structure of the soy protein [very unnatural] and turns it into a product, much like foam packing. 

Soy Protein Concentrate (SPC): created from defatted soy flakes, and it mainly it consists soy protein and its fibre. But look how it’s made: they are mixing soy solids with aqueous acid, aqueous alcohol, moist heat and/or organic solvents. This new mush immobilizes the protein, which is then extracted with some of the soy carbohydrates, isoflavones and salt residue.

Is this still a food?

I don’t think so. 

If given a choice, it would be better to have a chickpea or lentil burger.

Do you want to read more about how soy derivatives are made? I don’t. I’m just getting mad with this subject.

Truly, if you want a healthy body, feed it mostly healthy clean, natural foods. Read the food labels and make a decision to avoid soy derivatives. If you can. Good luck with that one.

Quick word on organic tofu. Likely ok for most people. Some are allergic to it and some people complain from strange hormonal reactions to it. Like me. My boobies hurt when I eat soy more than twice a month. I know. Too much information. Sorry.  But certain soy components are able to change women’s hormone levels. That is why soy supplements are often used during menopause. They mimic oestrogen and unless you want to interfere with your hormone levels, don’t eat it too often.  

Do you have thyroid issues? Please reduce or avoid the intake of soy.  

However, if you wish to try something new: fermented soy is a nutrient-dense food which in small quantities can be beneficial for you. The fermentation process produces major changes in soy’s structure and removes some of the goitrogens (thyroid-harming substances).   

Soy milk? Only drink if organic made from whole soy beans. That ‘should’ be ok. But I cannot vouch for this statement either. After all, it’s still made with soy….

‘Real soy milk’ was originally made by using the leftover residue from making tofu. But look what they’ve done to it now? It’s a concoction of stuffs, just like most commercial plant milk….

But I admit….and here comes the ‘but’….I buy some ready-made almond, oat or coconut milk in cartons for my hot beverages, because they contain added calcium. Plus my home-made one that I use for smoothies and with breakfast cereal, seriously curdles and has ‘bits’ floating in it.

Hey, I’m not a saint either 😉 But they don’t make my boobies hurt either.

Until next time,

 

 Nicki Kelly.

Let us talk about intermittent fasting.  One of the tools for longevity, weight loss and weight maintenance.

But it is NOT for everyone. And it isn’t ONE SIZE FITS ALL.

Most religions I know of, had periods of fasting. Even thousands of years ago they already knew that giving your digestive system a bit of a rest is beneficial for your well-being.

You see, we were not meant to be satiated ALL the time. Our digestive system is quite happy emptying its contents before sloshing new stuff on top……UNLESS you belong into the column below.

Therefore I shall address those people that should NOT consider intermittent fasting and then we move on. If you are in this column, don’t even think about fasting.  Promise?

• People with pre-diabetes or type 2 diabetes
• People who experience ‘sugar-crashes’ and get weak and shaky between meals
• People who are stressed
• Mothers that have recently given birth or breast feeding
• Recuperating patients
• The elderly
• Children up to, say 17
• Sports people, although some still do and especially body builders use this technique. I will explain.
• People who have bad control over their eating habits. They tend to go crazy when they start eating again, and totally lose the plot eating way more than they should. Thus the fasting was a waste of time and even damaging to their health and their mental wellbeing [guilt etc.]
• People who are on medication. We do not want you to spin out and have an accident!

I regularly skip a breakfast.  Maybe twice a month, even though it’s my favourite meal of the day.

Why do I skip breakfast, and not another meal instead? Personally, for me it is the easiest one to skip. If I were to skip dinner, I would not be able to sleep. Skip lunch….that’s not enough hours ‘on the fast’.

And why am I leaving away a meal anyway?  It’s not just saving calories. I could do that in other ways.

After a light, balanced dinner I have a good night’s rest. Come breakfast time….I have a cup of warm water. This is excellent for ‘toilet habits’. It flushes out your tummy. I add some ginger, turmeric and cinnamon. You can add lemon too.  The water needs to be fairly warm though. I keep drinking green tea and a green juice [no fibre] until lunch, when I break my fast with a very light meal. Then a healthy raw snack and then a light dinner.  Fantastic cleanse day

By not having a meal for about 16 hours, we re-set our digestion. The pesky fat layering hormone responses have nothing to respond to.

Plus “During the fasting phase, many old cells die and stem cells turn on, which starts a regeneration process and gives rise to new, younger cells,” study author Valter Longo, PhD, recently explained. “It sounds too good to be true, but it’s not,” he said. And by the way…..he also mentioned “A plant-based diet is by far the best for longevity and disease prevention.”

I like that bit the best 🙂

Some people fast for up to 4 days under the supervision of medical staff in health clinics. That would not be my cup of tea.

The once-in-a while 16 hours is ok with me.

However, there are other tricks to help your body be healthy and lose body fat more efficiently.

And that is by cleverly altering or cycling the calories levels. This type of regime prevents people from reaching a plateau where the excess weight simply does not get released for weeks.

Cycling calories goes like this: there can be three stages. One day of ‘overfeeding’ with highly nutritious healthy calories, followed by 2 days highly restricted eating, [500 calories] and 4 day of just the right amount of delicious, healthy balanced plant based eating.

This has prevented many people from reaching a plateau. However this requires a clinical nutritionist to work out your calories needs. I know someone who can do this. Yes, you guessed: it’s me 😎

Natural body builders [no drugs] often use cycling before a competition. After all, if their body does not look 100%, they do not win prices nor earn money. So they use every trick in the book to ensure they lose body fat and keep their muscle bulk.

They sometimes cycle calories and nutrients before a competition because it helps them to increase their metabolic rate and get totally shredded so they look a bit weird, in my opinion. But yes: they do immense lot of muscle work too. Because muscle mass ensures a high metabolic rate for fat burn.

How can you use this knowledge to your advantage?

Well, you could try and skip breakfast from time to time. However, be careful not to eat twice as much at lunch. Or you could relax your calories for one day, and then restrict them for two following days. Perhaps drink two protein shakes per day with some fibre, and just one nutritionally balanced meal per day for 2 days.

Something to think about….

If you have questions, please contact me.

Yours in Health & Skinny Jeans,

Nicki Kelly

If your life is anything like mine, you wonder how you ever get ’round to finishing anything.

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