There is much talk of fat and how detrimental it can be. The reality is that fat is essential for health and hormone production. Too much of the wrong fats, saturated fats from animal and dairy will cause heart disease, high cholesterol and obesity. Consuming more good fats, ie: omega 3 and 6 from Olive oils, fatty fish, such as fresh salmon, sardines, etc... is very beneficial to your health and a lean physique.

Key points for consideration
√ Eat less bad fats, saturated fat
from animal and dairy produce
√ Eat more good fats, Omega 3 &6, fatty fish, fresh salmon,
sardines√ Grill & boil your foods, don't fry

Although it might have been difficult to believe a few years ago, dietary fat has emerged as one of the most important components of the diet for anyone who is healthy and wants to stay that way. Fat is the part of food that carries its flavor. When your body stores energy, it stores it mostly in the form of fat. There are three main types of fatty acids:

Saturated - Monounsaturated - Polyunsaturated

Saturated fatty acids are mostly found in foods of animal origin. Monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids are mostly found in foods of plant origin and some seafood. Polyunsaturated fatty acids are of two kinds, omega-3 or omega-6.

Most foods contain a mixture of different fats.

A bottle of olive oil contains both saturated and unsaturated fats, but the saturated fats are dissolved in the unsaturated fats. To separate them, you can put olive oil in the refrigerator. The saturated fats will solidify and the unsaturated fats will remain liquid.

Fats that you eat enter your digestive system and are eventually turned into triglycerides for transport in the bloodstream. Muscle cells and fat cells absorb the triglycerides either to store them or to burn them as fuel. Contrary to popular belief, you should not aim to eliminate fat from your diet. You need to eat fat for several reasons.

Certain vitamins (such as A, D, E, and K) are fat soluble. The only way to get these vitamins is to eat fat. In the same way that there are essential amino acids, there are essential fatty acids (EFA's). You must get these fatty acids from food you eat because your body has no way to make them. That is why a no-fat diet will eventually kill you and a low-fat diet can make you very sick. Avoiding fat deprives you of EFA's that your body must have to survive and to thrive. People who begin to use EFA's correctly report dramatic improvement in energy levels within days of putting them into their diet. Essential fatty acids are found in foods such as high-fat, cold-water fish (salmon, mackerel, kippers), nuts (walnuts), and seeds.

Symptoms include depression, anxiety, weight gain, bloating, mood swings, tension, headaches/migraine, carbohydrate and sugar cravings, weepiness, insomnia, fatigue, poor concentration, irritability, clumsiness and dizziness.

Changing your diet is a good place to start. Switch to a whole food diet with complex carbohydrates (whole wheat, rice, oats, millet, quinoa) and make sure your diet contains no processed or refined foods. Try to avoid cakes, biscuit, sweets, or chocolate Eat plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables. Make sure your protein intake is with lean meat, oily fish, and tofu, Low fat cheese, nuts and seeds (if you don’t have allergies or intolerance). You need to stay away from coffee, instead drink herbal or green tea. Drink plenty water, herbal tea, green tea or freshly squeezes fruit and vegetable juice. Raspberry leaf tea has been found beneficial as it relaxes the muscles of the uterus.

Calcium falls in times of stress which can affect the sympathetic nervous system and result in reduced blood supply to the uterus. Prior to your period, eat calcium rich food such as sesame seeds, tahini, almond, broccoli, fish with bones (tinned fish is acceptable), tofu

Make sure your vitamin levels will enable your body to absorb the calcium by taking extra vitamins A, C, and D, and daily glass of fruit and vegetable juice, freshly made will ensure you get adequate supplies of theses. Make sure you are not constipated. Eat lightly before your period and make sure you include the beetroot in the daily juice.

If you find you get early painful periods with bright red flow, constipation, thirst and feel hot and flushed, drink sage tea two or three times per day.

Cut out smoking and avoid salty food and hard cheese if you tend to bloat. Use olive oil and sunflower oil, but don’t overheat them. During PMS time avoid all tea, coffee, and alcohol. Stick to the basic diet, and reduce spicy, oily and fried foods.

There are four main symptom types of PMS: Carbohydrate craving, Depression, Anxiety, and Hydration.

CARBOHYDRATE CRAVING:

Two weeks prior to the onset of bleeding the appetite increases. Food craving begins-in-particular for sweet foods.

CAUSES OF PRE-MENSTRUAL CRAVINGS:

Symptoms are due to a fall in blood sugar (hypoglycaemia). This creates fatigue and low energy. The body compensate by putting in more adrenalin which increases the level of sugar, but has unpleasant side effects such as anxiety, palpitations, sweating and shaking, dizziness and fainting.

TREATMENT FOR CRAVINGS:

It is essential with this type of PMS to stabilise the blood sugar. Cut out sugary foods and eat foods from the basic diet (see above). Eat at least 3 meals per day with complex carbohydrate at each meal (rice, oats, barely, millet, quinoa). Cut out alcohol and refined carbohydrates such as white flour products and sugar as well as coffee, tea, dried fruit and sugary fruit juice (in the supermarkets). Snacks could include: rice cake and banana, oatcakes and humus or avocado, sugar free muesli bars, sunflower seeds, ryvita and mashed sardines, low fat yoghurt.

Supplement to hep deal with cravings:
B complex
Vitamin E
Chromium
Magnesium and potassium
Please consult your doctor first.

DEPRESSION:

This type can occur with anxiety, but can occur on its own. You may feel confused, incoherent, depressed.

CAUSES OF PRE-MENSTRUAL DEPRESSION:

This is caused by low oestrogen levels, but not low progesterone levels. Stress and nutritional deficiency can affect the balance of oestrogen.

TREATMENT FOR PRE-MENSTRUAL DEPRESSION:

Stay with basic diet (as mentioned before).Eat regularly (small meals every 3 hours). Regular stretching and exercise helps. Stay away from alcohol, saturated fats, hard to digest foods, fried foods.

SUPPLEMTS TO HELP WITH PRE-MENSTRUAL DEPRESSION:

B complex
Magnesium
Zinc
Consult your doctor always first.

ANXIETY:

Nervous tension, anxiety, mood swings commonly begins two weeks prior to the onset of bleeding or after ovulation.

CAUSES OF PRE-MENSTRUAL ANXIETY:

Increased oestrogen due to vitamin B deficiency. Oestrogen builds up in the first half of the cycle and then goes to the liver where it is broken up and excreted via the bowel in an inactive form. If there is insufficient B6 present the liver can not break it down in enough quantities to excrete it. If you are also constipated this will also cause ineffective excretion and B6 is re-absorbed.

TREATMENT FOR PRE-MENSTRUAL ANXIETY:

Basic diet with increased fibre
B complex
Evening primrose oil
Magnesium and Zinc (consult your doctor)

HYDRATION:

Weight gain, breast and tummy become tender and swollen. Face, waistline becomes swollen. You may feel introverted and withdrawn.

CAUSES OF PRE-MENSTRUAL HYDRATION:

Oestrogen goes up and progesterone plummets. There is increase production of serotonin and aldersterone by the glands which control the kidneys, water and salt levels in the body. Avoid salty foods and have herbal remedies for water retention.

Just for a moment could we imagine that perhaps what we eat could also be related to how we feel, i.e. happy, sad, depressed, anxious, etc?

We are not just what we eat. We are also what we think and how we feel. Our moods create our habits and our life styles, especially when it comes to how we choose our nutrition. Our physical health is a manifestation of the connection between our mind and body.

So how can we tell whether our current state of health is dependent on what were eating or how we are feeling? If we could appreciate the mind & body works as one interdependent unit then maybe we could find a way to recognise how we contribute to our (mind & body) well-being. It is not a mystery. It is the journey of self-discovery.

We need to understand our emotional connection to food and how we may over-eat or starve ourselves when under any emotional or psychological stress. Behaviours such as, over-eating, bingeing, starvation are often a response to deep underlying needs, , not consciously acknowledged and usually unmet.

Emotional states such as anger, anxiety, low self-esteem, negative self-image, loneliness, relationship difficulties at home or at work, feeling trapped, disempowered- the list is endless, can all build up very slowly and lead to variety of ways in which food maybe misused as by way of consolation.e.g. Comfort-eating, binge-eating, compulsive eating, severe dieting, or being on “on-and-off” diet because of our perception towards our body image (yo-yo dieting).

Life circumstances sometimes can dictate how we treat our body. When we are happy, we either over- indulge in food or alcohol or feel that somehow we do not have much appetite (especially at the start of a new relationship when we are conscious of our body image in bed).

Medical science now acknowledges that many diseases such as diabetes (type 2), high blood pressure, and gastric ulcers are brought about, or at least by aggravated by, unhealthy life styles featuring lack of exercise, over eating, drinking, stress and unexpressed anger.

When someone binges on either food or drink (alcohol or fizzy drinks), not only are extra calories taken on but the food is often high in sugar which soaks into the blood stream and quickly raises the blood sugar. The regulatory system in our body is then alerted and collects this excess sugar through the liver and the fat cells floating in the body. This results in rapid reduction in blood sugar levels. This irritates the pancreas, which responds by producing extra insulin to balance the level of sugar in the body.

A low level of glucose (sugar) is distressing for the brain, which demands glucose” at all costs”. The release of adrenal hormones is designed to pull glucose out of the liver to restore blood sugar level. As a result of high/low blood sugar there are consequences that the body has to endure.

Headaches
Powerful craving (for something sweet)
Lowered metabolic rate (weight gain)
Brain senses fuel starvation result in tiredness, insomnia, lack of concentration specially when we reach into afternoon.

Our body becomes a “fat making machine” as a result of fat cells growing bigger and hungrier.

The brain is the largest user of energy (glucose) in the body, which uses over one third of the daily glucose ingested each day. The brain demands glucose in priority to other organs especially when we are under any stress or in emotional turmoil

Let’s now look at just three chemical changes in our body when we lead an unhealthy life style or when under any stressful life events:

SUGAR: All carbohydrates we eat are transformed to sugar (glucose), especially to feed our brain.

SEROTONIN: is a substance in our brain which creates sense of well-being, relaxation, self-control, impulse control and ability to plan ahead. This substance works just like an anti-depressant i.e. Prozac. Low levels of this hormone create depression and a craving for any type of foods which can easily be transformed into sugar, such as alcohol, sweets, and fizzy drink. Theses foods can be emotionally very comforting.

BETA-ENDORPHIN: is another hormone which is responsible for our self-esteem and how we feel about ourselves. Again, when we feel low, we either tend to drink alcohol or rely on greasy food, simple carbohydrate such bread, pasta, crisps or chocolate which results in a quick sugar rush (again emotionally comforting).]

We can develop an addiction to certain food, perhaps because of over-eating or our emotional needs and feeling high/low, which becomes our own individual comfort eating habit. This result in gaining fat and encouraging the fat cells to grow. When these above mentioned chemicals are out of balance, it is sometimes difficult to isolate which one is making us feel bad or maybe it is to do with the wrong food we eat.
Achieving the right balance between enjoying food and drink, supplying our body with optimum nourishment and the right amount of exercise is the key to healthy living and being able to sustain optimum weight. The human body/ mind is a resilient instrument and its power to recovery is remarkable, if measures are taken to promote a healthy lifestyle.

Weight and shape can be managed and even transformed with the right food and exercise plan even when we are under abnormal levels of stress. We cannot avoid stress, but we can find the way to be less destructive to our body by knowing how to deal with it, in terms of nutrition and exercise.