- Claire Baseley • Registered Nutritionist
20th February 2017
Vitamin D hit the headlines last week following the publication of a new review that revealed the supplements of the so-called sunshine vitamin can help to reduce the risk of colds and flu. While the benefits of vitamin D for bone and muscle health are indisputable, could supplements potentially ward off the winter sniffles as well? What is vitamin D? Rather than a true vitamin, vitamin D is actually a pro-hormone. When it is converted to its active form in the liver and kidney, it acts as a hormone to regulate the levels of calcium and phosphorus in the body. Both these minerals are important in keeping bones healthy and calcium also plays a role in muscle contraction, so […]
10th February 2017
This week, I learned who Steve Miller is. No, not the lead guitarist in the band that spawned rock classics like ‘The Joker’ and ‘Abracadabra’. Apparently, the Steve Miller in question is a hypnotherapist, starring on Sky’s Fat Families. I’ve missed out on this incisive televised sociological experiment but his comments on obese NHS staff that hit the headlines this week succeeded in grabbing my attention. Apparently, as part of his ‘slim acceptance’ campaign, obese NHS workers should be made to publicly display a badge bearing the words “I’m fat but I’m losing it” and restaurant menus should feature warnings that fat people should avoid certain dishes. Clearly, this sort of fat shaming is utterly offensive but is it actually […]
25th January 2017
This week, a funny thing happened. When the not-so-new news story broke that browned toast and crispy roast potatoes might give us cancer, the nation held up its hands and, as one, declared, “Enough is enough!” We’ve accepted that too much sugar, salt and the wrong kinds of fat are bad for us but seriously, ROAST POTATOES? That’s a step too far. Let’s look at the facts behind the headlines. In summary, as Douglas Adams advises, “Don’t panic.” The headlines stem from the publication of the Food Standards Agency’s (FSA) new campaign “Go for Gold” to help people minimise how much acrylamide they eat. Acrylamide is a (potentially cancer-causing – more on this later) chemical that is formed […]
18th January 2017
Social media can be a tremendous force for good but does its darker side harbour problems for our body image and mental health? I review the evidence and offer suggestions for how we deal with this potential ticking time bomb for our mental health. Much research has shown, over the last two decades, that the ‘thin ideal’ portrayed in the traditional media (films, television, magazines, billboards etc.) is linked to negative body image and subsequently an increased risk of disordered eating. The near constant presence of this thin ideal in some areas of the media normalise a body type that for most is neither realistic nor achievable but once this image becomes internalised in an individual, it becomes a […]