As the days grow longer
Preparing for spring; the F word; talk to me; the absolute joy of coleslaw; GLP-1 latest; eating with our eyes; big news from the dog basket.
The long, dark and necessarily drowsy month of January is behind us. The days are stretching out, and the first signs of spring are springing – sticky buds, snowdrops, and birds chattering a little bit louder. There’s a really subtle but definite change in the air. January may have seemed endless but, as I’ve mentioned before, it has its own hibernating beauty. And I love it for its quietness and lack of expectation.
Now February is unfolding, and nature is gently coming back to life. It’s a reminder that change happens slowly, in its own time, not overnight. And as the outdoors wakes up, it’s a lovely time for us join it. Without all the pressure of new year’s resolutions, and with the shoutiness of the diet industry fading away, it feels much more natural to follow the seasonal rhythms.
Come with me towards spring, and I’ll help you to wake up refreshed and feeling wonderful.
Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished
Bring Nuush into your springtime
It’s not protein that’s an issue…
There’s massive and constant hype about protein, yet barely a mention of fibre. But most people get more than enough protein without even trying, and nowhere near enough fibre (However, if you're following a Nuush nutrition plan, you're getting shedloads.). The problem is that fibre doesn’t seem as cutting-edge or sexy as other nutrients. Big mistake, HUGE. It’s sex on a plate. OMG.
Why is fibre so important?
I’d say it’s more than important, it’s critical.
Gut health: fibre gives your beneficial gut bacteria their favourite food, and in turn they produce anti-inflammatory compounds that help your immune system, your gut lining (they literally feed its cells) and your brain function and mental health. I can’t even describe to you how incredibly important it is to keep your gut critters happy. You can’t see them, but boy do they ‘see’ you. Underestimate their influence at your peril!
Blood sugar and appetite: Fibre means that the carbs and sugar that you eat don’t suddenly swoosh into your bloodstream, raising your blood sugar like billio. Instead, the fibre acts like a brake, which reduces your risk of type 2 diabetes, as well as making you feel nicely full for a good few hours, preventing snacking on excess calories then not being able to fit into your trews.
Cholesterol: Soluble fibre (oats, pulses, flax and chia seeds, and certain veg and fruits) reduces LDL (‘bad’) cholesterol. So fibre helps you to have a better cholesterol balance, which is great for your health.
Regularity: Insoluble fibre (whole grains, veg, fruit, seeds, nuts, pulses, skins) keeps your bowels moving and reduces inflammation and colon cancer risk. Your bowel is muscular, and like all your muscles it needs a workout to keep it strong. Fibre is like a punchbag for it, as it moves through the gut it gives the gut something to push back against, which is like a gym workout. If it lacks fibre it gets weak and feeble. And no one wants a weak colon!
Disease prevention: Higher fibre intake is strongly linked to reduced risk of nasty things like bowel cancer, heart disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes. Well worth eating your veg for.
How much do we need?
The UK recommends 30g/day, but most people get way less. The hunter-gatherer Hadza tribe, free from our modern lifestyle diseases, consume 150g daily. That’s not doable for us, but puts our recommended 30g recommendation into perspective.
A fibre-rich day that meets UK recommendations:
Breakfast: Porridge (40g oats), flaxseeds, berries, nuts (11g)
Lunch: Big mixed salad, 100g hummus, apple (16g)
Dinner: Lentil & veg curry with brown rice (7g)
Total: 34g
Nuushers - you will be getting considerably more than this with your plans
Compare this to a typical western diet low-fibre day (cornflakes, biscuits, sandwich, crisps, chocolate, cake, carbonara): just 8g. Believe me, I see a lot of food diaries, and this is sadly not fiction. No wonder so much of the western world and its uncle has diverticulitis.
Ways to get more
Eat two double-cupped handfuls of salad/veg, plus one heaped handful of fruit every day. Half your plate should be veg or salad at dinner, for instance, and a good variety across the weeks and seasons.
Eat beans and other pulses 4+ times a week. Check out our recipe page for deliciousness with pulses.
Eat nuts and seeds every day.
Eat whole grain bread and brown or wild rice, as well as oats and other whole grains like quinoa.
Weirdness
Did you know that:
An avocado provides 10g of fibre despite its smooth and creamy texture?
A cup of unfiltered French Press coffee provides 1g of fibre (from the beans)?
Yes!
So let’s stop navel-gazing about protein that we get so much of, and give more love to beautiful and gorgeous health-giving fibre. Mmm mmm. I know what I’d rather get than a bunch of flowers on Valentine’s day, yes, a veg box delivery.
Let me help you
Did you know that we offer free 15 minute discovery consultations? They are really good if you want to talk through any nutrition, diet or health issues and get an idea of where to go next with it all. You fill in a short questionnaire beforehand, so I can get an idea of what’s going on, and with my professional knowledge I will help you to make sense of things.
So come and talk with me, and let’s get started on helping you to feel better and live life to the full.
Or really look after yourself and register for a course of nutritional therapy so we can look deeply into what is going on for you.
It’s all cabbages, carrots and onions
Yes, I am talking about seasonal food in the UK in Feb, but I’m also talking about one of the most delicious things in the whole world - COLESLAW!
I flipping love it. On a hot fluffy jacket potato with cheese and beans, with cold cooked chicken and salad, with sausage and mash, in a sandwich with crisps, or with beans on toast (don’t knock it til you’ve tried it!). Even just straight out of the fridge when you go to get the milk for a cup of tea.
What I’m not talking about, necessarily, is the overly mayo’d and pale coleslaw you get in supermarkets, although I’d never say no. Instead I’m on about homemade slaw with different coloured cabbages, red onion and lots of carrot, even some shredded beetroot if you like your slaw on the redder side. All brought together in a lighter, but still heavenly, dressing made with creme fraiche, extra virgin, white balsamic and a bit of Hellman’s.
Excuse me while I fantasise about a sandwich filled with grated Cheddar, cheese and onion crisps and 54 tablespoons of coleslaw #fattooth….
Try my rainbow slaw or my carrot and red cabbage one
What’s the latest on GLP-1 drugs in the UK?
GLP-1 receptor agonists – like Mounjaro and Ozempic – are everywhere in the news at the moment. Whether it’s new regulations, emerging research and evidence, or changing attitudes, these weight-loss drugs are a hot topic.
Here’s a quick roundup of what’s happening:
Tighter rules for online pharmacies
The UK’s General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) has cracked down on how online pharmacies sell these injections. No more “tick-box” prescriptions –people now need proper assessments, like video calls or access to their medical records, before they can get a prescription. The goal? To prevent misuse and ensure people are fully informed about what they’re taking. (Read more)
The health risks and benefits debate
On the one hand, a large study has found that GLP-1 drugs may reduce the risk of many health conditions – including dementia – in people using them in relation to diabetes and/or obesity, but these benefits may be the result of weight loss and not the drugs themselves. That’s good news for people using them for those diseases but may not be the case for people without those conditions. However, the same study found a possible increased risk of things like arthritis, gastrointestinal issues, and low blood pressure. And we already know that the drugs can be linked with pancreatitis and other undesirable outcomes. There are concerns about serious stomach issues linked to these drugs, including gastroparesis (stomach paralysis) and bowel obstruction – things that can cause severe pain and, in some cases, need surgery. (Read more)
So, as always, it’s not a magic bullet.
Now approved for heart health
In a first for the UK, Wegovy (semaglutide) has been approved not just for weight loss but to help prevent heart attacks and strokes in people who are overweight or obese and already have cardiovascular disease. This moves GLP-1 drugs into the realm of preventative medicine, which could be a game-changer. (Read more).
The bigger picture
Let’s not forget that healthy eating, physical activity, rest and sleep, and social connection are beautiful preventative measures too. Call me old fashioned…
Experts continue to warn against seeing these drugs as a quick-fix solution. They’re powerful tools, but long-term health still comes back to the fundamentals. Medications can be helpful, but they can’t replace the natural lifestyle changes that support health.
If you are using GLP-1 medications I am here to help you to eat nutritiously and practise the other lifestyle changes that will support you forever, not just while you are using the drugs. Book a consultation with me or email me – sally@nuush.co.uk
It’s an evolving conversation, and we’ll keep an eye on it. What do you think – are these drugs a useful tool or just another industry money-maker or quick fix? Let me know in the comments.
A classic winter warmer
A beautiful way to eat more fish is to make a fish pie. Salmon, haddock, cod and prawns in a creamy sauce, topped with smooth mash and served with a ton of winter veg. Cracking!
I’ve made it all less of a faff with my recipe, which is a favourite on our plans, because you don’t have to make a white sauce. I love cooking but I’m not blessed with time or patience so I always look for shortcuts that keep the gorgeousness of the dish but save lots of time. You can eat this two nights in a row as well.
We eat first with our eyes
Imagine going to a restaurant and being served a plate of food that had just been slopped on, willy-nilly, with sploshes and drips of this, that and the other all around the edges. Would you mind? Because I flipping would!
Hard-wired into us, as humans, is checking food safety with our senses before we eat it, including sight and smell. When a meal is served all higgledy-piggledy, like a giant mess on a plate, I question the cook’s attention to hygiene as well as their real appreciation of the food they are cooking and serving. I wonder if I’m going to be eating something that wasn’t meant to be included in the dish :-/
Presentation matters, a lot. Whether we’re eating alone or in company, good presentation honours the food and ingredients, and the time and attention paid to producing the meal. It says “Here is a plate of delicious specialness that you can savour and enjoy in all its beauty while sitting at the table.” Rather than “Here is a plate of fodder, you may as well just open your mouth and tip it all in together while you’re watching telly on the settee.”
We don’t only eat with our eyes and mouths though, we use other senses too. That’s why restaurants re-word things like ‘Sausage, mash and gravy’ to ‘Outdoor-bred herbed sausages with creamed potatoes and a red wine reduction.’ Poncy? Yes. Perceived as being of higher value? Also yes.
To be honest, I don’t mind a straightforwardly worded menu, prefer it in fact, but I do love to see nicely presented food.
Whatsay you?
Is leaky gut even real, or a thing made up by nutrib*llock bros?
It’s a thing. And its real name is intestinal hyperpermeability.
Our intestines are lined with a single layer of cells. It has to be this thin or it would be too much of a barrier to allow nutrients through it. Imagine those cells arranged side-by-side like wall tiles, with grout in-between. Except in this case the ‘grout’ has little tiny holes that let certain beneficial things through but keep nastier things out.
Think about it; what is inside the gut is actually *outside* of the body, since it’s a hollow space that goes from the mouth to the exit point at the bottom, AKA, the bum! And that hollow space contains and deals with everything we put in at the top, from the outside world. So of course it has to have a pretty robust barrier function.
Now imagine that the grout between your bathroom tiles gets damaged by bleach or heat or age or wotnot, and it starts getting bigger holes in it. Well, the ‘grout’ between your intestinal cells (called ‘tight junctions’) can also get damaged by inflammation because of diet, stress, lack of sleep and a million other assaults, and the junctions are now no longer ‘tight’ but are ‘loose junctions’ that let all manner of undesirables through into your blood stream. And when that happens, your immune system comes rushing into action in order to get rid of the invaders. These are things like partially digested proteins, such as in gluten, as well as bacteria, viruses, funguses, heavy metals, pesticides and other nasties. This can even trigger or drive forward autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, psoriasis, Parkinson’s and MS. But in general it will make you feel awfully under par.
What are the symptoms?
Leaky gut, or intestinal hyperpermeability, can cause a wide range of symptoms affecting multiple systems in your body. Digestive issues like bloating, wind, diarrhoea, constipation, and food sensitivities are common, along with immunity issues leading to frequent infections, allergies and autoimmune conditions. Chronic inflammation can drive joint pain, skin problems like eczema or acne, and metabolic imbalances affecting your blood sugar and weight. Neurological symptoms, including brain fog, fatigue, anxiety, depression and headaches, are also common. Because leaky gut is linked to systemic inflammation, its symptoms often overlap with other conditions, making it tricky to diagnose directly.
What can you do about it?
You can work with me to identify potential triggers and mediators in your diet and lifestyle. But you can also stop drinking alcohol for a while and see if things improve. Alcohol is hugely inflammatory and causes grief to your intestinal lining. You can focus on reducing sugar in your diet (big bad inflamer), on getting plenty of whole foods, on being a healthy weight, getting enough sleep and relaxation, reducing stress (stress is a HUGE influencer) and a big one is giving your gut a good long break overnight to allow it the time and space to repair. You can also try a gluten-free diet for a few weeks, to see if that helps, it may give your gut a break from those proteins passing through the gaps, and you can go back to it once it has healed.
Your gut is the centre of your body’s world, it needs looking after.
From the dog basket
Many of you already know that there is a new baby in the basket. He’s called Sedge (a type of grass), and he is nine weeks old and was born on a beautiful farm in Derbyshire – OMG it was collie heaven, we met his mum and dad and other beautiful farm collies.
Sedge is a very good boy and is getting to love life here on the edge of the fens. Just like Moss, he has a penchant for stealing shoes, which he stores in his den under the kitchen table. He also appears to have a cast iron stomach; so far, he’s eaten a whole dead mouse, a big pile of rabbit poo and lots of different types of home cooked food, and none of it has affected him! He’s an absolute cutie as well, and gets lots of love and cuddles wherever he goes.
Lottie is being a bit of a grumpy grandma though. Sedge wants to play but Lottie is having none of it, and has her growly head on – although they trot along together out in the fields. Evie was in a huge sulk for the first few days, she hates anything that steals her limelight. So she was taking all his toys and hiding them under the cushion in her basket, and generally glowering at me when I picked him up or kissed him. But now she has decided he is quite nice and is frequently presenting her tail-end to him, at which he looks utterly bemused. She really is a minx.
The cats have taken him in their stride; Pepper snuggled up to him straight away and Sedge didn’t bat an eyelid. And he comes in with me to feed the chickens and has shown no sign of wanting to eat them.
We still go and visit Scout and Moss in the woods each day and have a little chat with them. I’ve told them all about Sedge but not to worry because it doesn’t mean I don’t love them, I love and miss them with all my heart.
So that’s all the news!
Lots of love from all of us,
XXX
Really interesting thank you xx
A beautiful read… you are a book. X