There was an article published in The Guardian a few weeks ago about seven foods that are marketed or commonly perceived as healthy but are in fact fact full of sugar. Here I run through them and talk about alternatives for each. 1. Pasta Sauce Bottled sauces are full of sugars with some simple pasta sauces containing the equivalent of as many as 6 teaspoons of sugar. In all reality, a simple pasta sauce is easy and cheap to make at home. Here are my two favourite recipes fo

Skin problems affect most of us at some point in our lives. Here are my top five tips for optimal skin health. Water, water everywhere Making sure you are properly hydrated means that your skin will be hydrated too. It also helps to flush through toxins and waste products from the body. The body is roughly 70% water so it makes sense that you need to drink a lot! I recommend pure water or herbal tea for the most hydrating drinks. If you want some flavour, try adding fresh fru

This is IBS Awareness month. IBS is a condition that affects an estimated 10-5 of people in Europe and North America alone. IBS is classified as digestive discomfort with bloating, irregular bowel movements and one or a combination of constipation and diarrhoea. It is generally caused by an infection or as a result of a reaction to certain foods. In recent years, it seems that IBS has become an umbrella term for a variety of digestive symptoms, a label that does not always ha

Easter, like any other big celebration has a big focus on food and most particularly, chocolate. It is a time for celebration, families coming together and eating big meals. Supermarket shelves are filled with Easter eggs months in advance and there seems to be no escaping the inevitable barrage of chocolate and sweets. In this blog I'm aiming to show you that it does not have to be this way and you can still do Easter treats without the sugar handover. It doesn't have to be

Today marks the start of Endometriosis Awareness Week and what will be a really important time for many as awareness is raised about this debilitating and little talked about condition. Endometriosis affects 1.5 million women in the UK, almost as many as are affected by diabetes[1]. Many wait a long time to have their heavy, painful periods and excessive bleeding diagnosed and it can be an embarassing condition to discuss and explain. What is Endometriosis? Endometriosis is a

This is vitamin D awareness week. Vitamin D is always in the news at the moment as more and more research is emerging about this important nutrient and how vital it is for our health. Although it is named as a vitamin our body actually converts it to a hormone. Here are a few of the most important functions of vitamin D. Bone health Vitamin D is essential for bone health as your body needs it in order to regulate the absorption of calcium and phosphorus as well as stimulatin

Today is World Cancer Day 2015 and with the tag line ‘Not Beyond Us’ I am encouraged by the positive message this sends out. Cancer is a horrible disease and one by which sadly we are all touched at some point in our lives, either directly or indirectly. For me this has a particular resonance as I lost my father to cancer 16 years ago tomorrow. His illness and my family’s loss was one of the main reasons that I chose to become a Nutritional Therapist and it is still the stron

I have always been a keen baker but my focus nowadays is much more on healthier alternatives to the standard refined flour and sugar that is so often used. Allergies are also important to consider. Gluten and eggs are two of the common ones and in fact I have a very dear friend who is allergic to eggs so I am always looking for egg free baking recipes. The recipe I have created today uses ground flax seed soaked in water as an egg replacement, buckwheat flour as a gluten free

This is sometimes quite a depressing time of year. Christmas is over, the weather is cold and the worst months of winter stretch seemingly interminably ahead. I think it is also a positive time of year though and I always find it so. The year is almost over and the New Year is just around the corner full of potential and possibilities and the opportunity for a new start. Most people make resolutions of some kind at this point and many people fail to keep them. I am certainly

This can be a tough time of year for lots of us. The weather is getting cold, people are succumbing to colds and flu and to top it all we have the busy Christmas period with an endless list of things to do and buy which tops up stress levels. Here are my top tips to boost your immunity and beat the winter blues. Vitamin D Vitamin D is a vital nutrient for immunity. The best source of vitamin D is sunlight and living in the UK it is likely that most of us are deficient, certai