Decembers 2024 Newsletter

March is Endometriosis Awareness Month, a time dedicated to raising awareness of a condition that affects millions of people yet is often misunderstood.

Protein Powders: When They’re Useful and How to Choose Wisely

Supporting Women’s Strength Training with Nutrition: What Makes the Difference

Strength Training in Perimenopause: What Actually Matters (and What Doesn’t)

Learning to Squat Heavy: Why I’m Working with a PT and Why Muscle Mass Matters

Feeling hungrier before your period? Here’s why If you’ve ever noticed your appetite ramp up in the days before your period—stronger hunger, more cravings, or a feeling that you’re never quite satisfied—you’re not imagining it, and you’re not lacking willpower. As a nutritionist, this is one of the most common questions I’m asked, and the answer lies in what’s happening hormonally in the second half of your menstrual cycle. A quick overview of the late-cycle hormonal shift The menstrual cycle is typically divided into two main phases: the follicular phase (from your period to ovulation) and the luteal phase (from ovulation to your next period). It’s the luteal phase, especially the final 7–10 days, where appetite changes are most noticeable. After ovulation, progesterone rises to support a potential pregnancy. At the same time, oestrogen—an appetite-suppressing hormone—begins to fall. This shift is key. Higher progesterone combined with lower oestrogen creates a physiological environment where the body genuinely needs more energy. Why progesterone increases hunger Progesterone has a warming, calming, and slightly insulin-antagonistic effect. In practical terms, this means: ● Your resting metabolic rate increases slightly (you burn more energy at rest). ● Blood sugar becomes a little harder to regulate. ● The body becomes more sensitive to energy deficits. The result? Your body sends stronger hunger signals to ensure adequate fuel is available. This isn’t random—it’s a protective mechanism designed to support reproduction. Blood sugar, cravings, and feeling “snackish” In the late luteal phase, many women experience more blood sugar dips. This can show up as shakiness, irritability, intense cravings, or feeling ravenous shortly after eating. Carbohydrate cravings in particular often increase because carbs are the quickest way for the body to stabilise blood glucose and support serotonin production. If meals are too small, low in protein and fat, hunger can feel relentless during this phase. This is why the same way of eating that feels fine earlier in your cycle may suddenly stop working before your period. The role of stress and sleep Progesterone also interacts with the nervous system. If stress is high or sleep is poor, the body’s demand for energy increases even further. Cortisol (the stress hormone) can amplify appetite and cravings, particularly for quick energy foods. This compounds the natural increase in hunger already happening due to hormonal changes. Why fighting hunger backfires Trying to “push through” premenstrual hunger often leads to overeating later, increased cravings, and a more chaotic relationship with food. Ignoring hunger cues at this point in your cycle can worsen fatigue, mood changes, and PMS symptoms. From a nutritional perspective, increased hunger before your period is not a problem to fix—it’s information to respond to. How to support your appetite before your period While hunger will naturally increase, it can feel more manageable when the body is well supported: ● Eat regular meals with enough carbohydrates, protein, and fats. ● Slightly increase portions if hunger is stronger. ● Prioritise blood sugar stability with balanced meals. ● Don’t push cutting calories or “being stricter” during this phase—it usually backfires. The takeaway Getting hungrier before your period is a normal, biologically driven response to hormonal changes—particularly rising progesterone and falling oestrogen. Your body isn’t being dramatic; it’s asking for more fuel during a more demanding phase of the cycle. Understanding this can be incredibly freeing. Instead of fighting your appetite or feeling frustrated with yourself, you can work with your physiology—supporting your body rather than trying to override it.

Comfort Food with Benefits - Harissa-roasted Salmon with Chickpeas and Tzatziki This harissa-roasted salmon with chickpeas and tzatziki is one of those meals that feels indulgent but quietly does your body a lot of good. It’s packed with fibre from the chickpeas and vegetables, alongside high-quality protein from the salmon and Greek yoghurt — a combination that’s brilliant for supporting gut health and keeping blood sugar levels steady. Fibre helps slow digestion and feeds your gut microbes, while protein adds staying power, making this a satisfying, balanced dish that won’t leave you reaching for snacks an hour later. The warm, smoky chickpeas coated in rose harissa and spices bring depth and gentle heat, while the cooling, garlicky tzatziki balances everything beautifully. Finished with tender, oven-roasted salmon, this is a nourishing, flavour-forward recipe that works just as well for a relaxed weeknight dinner as it does for something a little more special — comfort food with benefits. Serves 2 people, Ingredients: 400g Chickpeas in water, drained 1 Red Onion, sliced 1 Red Pepper, sliced 3 Garlic Cloves, crushed 1.5 tbsp Tomato Puree 1 tbsp Rose Harissa Paste 1 tsp Smoked Paprika 1 tsp Cumin ground 1 tsp Honey ½ Lime, juice 2 Salmon fillets (adjust this depending on your protein requirements and the size of the salmon fillets) 3 tbsp Greek Yoghurt 1 Cucumber Pinch of sea salt 1 tsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil Heat the oil in a pan and add the onions, peppers and salt. Saute gently for 5 minutes or so until soft, then add 2 cloves of the garlic, paprika and cumin, and cook for another couple of minutes. Add the tomato puree and harissa and cook for a minute before adding the chickpeas. Add the honey, lime juice and cook for another 5 minutes. Season the salmon fillets and roast in a hot oven (220c) until cooked through. This will be approx. 10 minutes if chilled or 20 minutes if frozen. Meanwhile, mix the yoghurt with a clove of crushed garlic and a pinch of salt. Grate the cucumber onto a clean cloth, then gather up the sides and squeeze out the excess water. Mix the cucumber into the yoghurt to finish the tzatziki. Start with the tzatziki as a base on your plate. Add the chickpea mix and then the salmon fillet on top. 

Keeping it simple As a nutritionist, one of the most common patterns I see is clients feeling overwhelmed, stuck, or frustrate not because they aren’t trying hard enough, but because their energy is being poured into the wrong things. It’s easy to get hung up on the latest food fad, supplement trend, or microscopic detail, while the foundations that actually drive health are quietly being neglected. The distraction of fads and “nutrition noise” Social media has turned nutrition into a constant stream of conflicting advice. One week it’s green powders, the next it’s protein timing, then it’s cutting carbs, cutting dairy, cutting gluten—often without context or individual relevance. Clients come to sessions worried about tiny details while skipping meals, sleeping five hours a night, or living in a constant state of stress. These fads feel productive because they’re concrete and controllable. But focusing on them too early is like rearranging furniture in a house with no foundations. You can optimise all you like—if the basics aren’t in place, progress will always feel hard. Why the basics matter more than perfection Health is built on boring, repeatable behaviours. They’re not flashy, they don’t sell well on Instagram, but they work. ● Sleep: Consistently getting enough sleep is one of the most powerful regulators of appetite, blood sugar, hormones, mood, and recovery. No supplement can compensate for chronic sleep deprivation. ● Eating the right balance: Regular meals with enough energy, protein, fibre, and fats create stability. Blood sugar balance, digestion, and energy levels all depend on this. Perfect food choices mean very little if overall intake is chaotic or insufficient. ● Regular movement: Daily movement supports metabolic health, mental wellbeing, and circulation. It doesn’t need to be extreme—it needs to be consistent. ● Resistance training: This is one of the most underrated pillars of health, especially for women. Building and maintaining muscle improves insulin sensitivity, supports bone health, and protects metabolism as we age. ● Stress management: Chronic stress is not just a mindset issue—it has real physiological effects. Elevated stress hormones can disrupt digestion, sleep, hormonal balance, and appetite regulation. Until these pillars are in place, worrying about superfoods, elimination diets, or the “perfect” macro split is usually a distraction. Why small details become a coping strategy I often see clients fixate on small nutrition issues because it feels safer than addressing bigger lifestyle changes. It’s easier to cut out a food group than to confront burnout. Easier to buy another supplement than to set boundaries around work. Easier to chase optimisation than to rest. But the body doesn’t respond to intensity—it responds to consistency and safety. When those are missing, progress stalls, no matter how “clean” the diet looks. Refocusing on what actually moves the needle Good nutrition isn’t about doing everything. It’s about doing enough of the right things, and being consistent about i. Once the foundations are solid—sleep is prioritised, meals are balanced and regular, movement is part of daily life, strength is being built, and stress is better managed—then fine-tuning can make sense. Until then, simplicity is not a failure. It’s often the most effective strategy there is. As a nutritionist, my role is often less about adding more and more rules, and more about helping people strip things back. When the pillars are strong, health becomes far easier to sustain—and far less exhausting to chase.

Are you, like me, totally fed up with my whole social media feed being taken up with New Year weight loss posts?! The incessant videos of women in lycra or gym-bros offering the fail safe tips on how to be skinny is depressing and damaging! As a nutritionist, one of the most frustrating patterns I see on social media is the relentless focus on weight loss as the ultimate marker of health. Scroll for a few minutes and you’ll be told—explicitly or implicitly—that smaller bodies are better bodies, that weight loss equals discipline, success, and wellness, and that if you’re not actively trying to shrink yourself, you’re somehow failing. This narrative is not only overly simplistic, it’s actively harmful. Weight is often a symptom, not the problem Excess weight is frequently treated as the root cause of poor health, when in reality it’s often a symptom of deeper dysregulation in the body. Hormonal imbalances, chronic stress, poor sleep, gut dysfunction, insulin resistance, trauma, medication use, and under-fuelling can all influence body weight. Focusing solely on weight loss is like trying to silence a fire alarm without addressing the fire. When the body doesn’t feel safe, nourished, or supported, it adapts. Sometimes that adaptation looks like holding onto weight. The goal of nutrition should be to restore balance—blood sugar regulation, hormonal health, digestive function, and nervous system stability—not to force the body into a smaller size at any cost. Why “eat less, move more” misses the point The idea that weight loss is simply a matter of eating less and moving more is one of the most persistent myths in nutrition. While energy balance exists in a physics sense, human bodies are not simple machines. Metabolism is dynamic and responsive, not static. For many people, eating less can actually worsen metabolic health—slowing metabolic rate, increasing stress hormones, disrupting menstrual cycles, and driving disordered eating patterns. Similarly, pushing more exercise without adequate recovery or fuel can increase inflammation and burnout rather than improving health. Context matters a lot! By reducing nutrition advice to calorie reduction and movement targets, social media ignores individuality, biology, and lived experience. It also places blame squarely on the person, rather than acknowledging the complex systems at play. The unhealthy pressure on women to lose weight What bugs me even more, especially as a mum of 2 girls, is this weight-centric messaging disproportionately targets women, and the impact is profound! From a young age, women are taught that their bodies are projects—constantly needing improvement, control, or correction. The pressure to lose weight is framed as “self-care,” when it often leads to chronic dieting, body dissatisfaction, and a fractured relationship with food. This constant pursuit of thinness can be deeply damaging. It’s associated with higher rates of anxiety, disordered eating, hormonal disruption, and shame. For many women, especially during life stages like puberty, pregnancy, postpartum, and perimenopause, weight changes are normal and protective. Treating these changes as failures to be fixed undermines both physical and mental health. A more helpful conversation about health Health is not a number on a scale. It’s how well your body functions, how stable your energy is, how your digestion feels, how well you sleep, how resilient your nervous system is, and how peaceful your relationship with food and your body can be. As a nutritionist, I want to see the conversation shift away from weight loss as the goal, and toward nourishment, regulation, and sustainability. When the body is properly supported, weight often settles where it’s meant to—without force, punishment, or obsession. We deserve better than a one-size-fits-all message. And women, in particular, deserve to live in their bodies without the constant pressure to make them smaller.