Kate Taylor

SUNDAY SHUTDOWN #29 THE ALKALINE DIET

What is it?

The alkaline diet is based on the idea that the food and drink you consume can alter the pH of your body. It is sometimes also known as the alkaline ash diet or the acid alkaline diet. The diet promotes the idea that eating acid forming or acidic foods will cause damage to one’s health and alkaline foods will improve it. Claims have also included curing diseases such as cancer. The diet states that foods such as meat, fish, dairy, eggs, alcohol and grains are all highly acidic and damaging and those such as fruits, nuts, seeds, veggies and legumes are alkaline and therefore beneficial.

What is pH?

pH is a scientific measurement of how acidic or alkaline the body is and the pH of the human body as a whole is 7.4 which is just above neutral. Somewhere like the stomach has a pH of 2 as it contains acid to digest food whereas something like bleach has a pH of 12 and falls into the alkaline category. The body maintains its pH of 7.4 very strictly as this is where we can function. Just like it maintains our body temperature. If the pH of your body changed you are at risk of death, very quickly if untreated. Foods have the ability to affect the pH of our urine, however that’s something the body is getting rid of. In fact that is one of the ways your body maintains it’s pH by getting rid of very acidic or alkaline substances.

Is it safe?

Products marketed as alkaline are not regulated in the UK and any claims made on them are unfounded. A few years ago in the USA, Robert Young (claiming to practice as a doctor at the time), defrauded terminally ill cancer patients by informing them his baking soda infused drips would cure them. Many stopped their conventional treatment and subsequently died. In 2016, he was convicted of practicing medicine without a licence and sentenced to almost four years in jail. I appreciate this in an extreme, however people like this prey on the vulnerable and when you have tried anything and are at your wits end, you are likely to believe them. This is the severe danger of the nutrition industry. Food is not medicine. Please remember that. None of the claims made by this diet have scientifically been proven in humans.

SUNDAY SHUTDOWN #28 THE FAST 800⠀

A relatively new diet plan developed by Michael Moseley focusing on weight loss. But is it all it’s cracked up to be?⠀

The diet focuses on 3 stages (we will discuss 2 of these today)⠀
? 800 calories a day⠀
? 5:2 or intermittent fasting⠀
? Maintenance⠀

Stage 1

800 calories a day is severe food restriction. And whilst for some people with a lot of weight to lose this may be a good way to start (especially when motivation is high) for many people this can be dangerous. Really anyone on a diet this low in calories should be under professional supervision. It’s recommended for between 2 and 12 weeks. 12 weeks with no supervision in my professional opinion is unsafe and setting yourself up to fail. It’s based on meal replacement shakes and whilst this is only advised for people with a large amount of weight to lose anyone can buy the shakes online. Not good.⠀

Stage 2

800 calories for 2 days a week, eating on the others days but with smaller portions, otherwise known as intermittent fasting. Yes, you will lose weight because you are still consuming less calories than your body requires. The thing that gets me here is not the weight loss but the fact it states the benefits of fasting include: cancer prevention and increased life expectancy. There is no clinical evidence to support these claims. Even on the science page of the website, only journal papers relating to weight loss are mentioned. You can reduce your risk of getting cancer, you cannot prevent it.⠀

Overall…

Stage 1 is not safe, stage 2 will more than likely result in weight loss (you can do this without buying shakes, just consuming 800 calories, 2 days a week) and stage 3 is eating a balanced diet. If this will keep you accountable to someone or something for weight loss then it may be worth a try. However it’s worth remembering, this doesn’t stop at the end of your 12 week programme. This is a new way of life. This is building lifelong habits, not going back to the ones that got you in this situation in the first place.⠀

SUNDAY SHUTDOWN #27 CBD⠀

What is it?⠀

Cannabidiol (CBD) is an oil derived from the cannabis plant. It is well known for its role in pain management and can be prescribed via the NHS in the UK for this and motor sensory disorders. However, we are now seeing it on the shelves of pharmacies and health food stores, in both tablet form and as an oil. It’s expensive. A quick online search had me finding prices for the oils between £20 for a 10ml bottle and £34.99 for 60 tablets. Just this week I saw it mixed with coffee beans (@biffinskitchen), then there are also smoothies and breakfast items containing it being marketed as a master supplement. I’m not going to get into the detail of its role in medicine, but as it’s now promoted as a nutrition supplement, there is a need for me to have a voice!⠀

The research

A meta-analysis (lots of research all reviewed together) conducted by Bonaccorso et al this year, 2019, looked at the evidence for the use and safety of CBD in the treatment of psychiatric disorders. Now this certainly isn’t my area of expertise as a nutritionist, however further reading in these types of areas is important and helps expand my knowledge. The results showed limited evidence for benefits to chronic psychological disorders but some therapeutic effects for specific disorders such as substance abuse and anxiety. And as for research on its nutritional benefits, there is 0.⠀

In summary

The safety of CBD’s use is still being researched, there simply aren’t enough trials or evidence of doses and the impact of taking too much. There are also no approved health claims which manufacturers can use on packaging. So in essence, any food product claiming it contains CBD and that it will bring benefit to your health is false. Please do not waste your money thinking this is a magical fix, it isn’t.⠀

SUNDAY SHUTDOWN #26 GLUTEN IS BAD FOR YOUR HEALTH.⠀

The reason this has come about is purely through anecdotal results. That’s when individual people report “I cut out gluten and I lost weight, or my digestive problems stopped or I just feel better”.⠀

What do we know?⠀

That people who have been diagnosed with celiac disease should not consume gluten. There are also people who may have non-celiac gluten sensitivity, this means they have an acute reaction to gluten, but not full blown celiac disease and also shouldn’t consume it. You can also have an allergy to things like wheat or rye which contain gluten and these can be tested for. Other than those groups of people, there is no reason why gluten needs to be avoided and can form part of a healthy diet. It shouldn’t be labelled as bad or have fear associated with it.⠀

But why do people report feeling good when they cut it from their diet?

One of the main reasons this can occur is not from the act of removing gluten itself but from the act of making a change to their diet in general. Gluten is found in many products. A lot of those products are things we as humans find easy to consume a lot of. Bread, pasta, processed snacks. By removing these foods not only are you removing gluten but also removing a large proportion of food you more than likely were eating too much of. This in turn may also result in some fat loss, as in essence you are consuming less calories than you were beforehand.⠀

Just an idea, but rather than cut it out, try to consume less of it. This is harder than it sounds, we’ve all smelt the fresh loaf of sourdough and ended up eating more than we should have. But how about⠀
– halving your portion of pasta and adding in some greens⠀
– having an open sandwich with one slice of bread⠀
– or trying to consume bread at one meal a day only⠀

There have been no scientific studies in healthy individuals showing an inflammatory or negative effect on health when consuming a diet containing gluten. Just because something is gluten free that doesn’t mean it’s healthy, arsenic is gluten free and it can kill you!

SUNDAY SHUTDOWN #25 GREEN TEA

Commonly assumed as a master of all teas with benefits such as improved skin, assistance with weight loss and speeding up metabolism. But just what is the deal with this green hot beverage?

Let’s tackle the weight loss claim first. For something to aid weight loss, specifically fat loss, then it must be able to impact or change the energy balance equation. What that means is that it makes the calories you consume disappear faster or in fact make your body absorb less of them in general. Green tea contains caffeine, and we know that caffeine can be used to improve performance and may even slightly suppress appetite in some people. However, the impact caffeine actually has burning more calories is minimal. And let’s remember green tea has less caffeine than standard tea or coffee. It’s also important to note that any relevant clinical studies in relation to green tea, have actually looked at the caffeine content rather than the tea itself.

You may experience skin benefits, however they are likely to be from the fact you are more hydrated than you were previously. If you suddenly introduce green tea into your diet and don’t change anything else, you will be consuming more fluid. This is exactly the same as if you added in 4 cups of hot water with lemon or any other flavoured tea.

As green tea has been marketed for so long as a super tea, it may subconsciously influence your choices. This is known as you having more health seeking behaviours. What that means is, if you start doing one thing you believe is better for you, then you are more likely to add on a few other healthy habits too, like eating more fruit and vegetables or consume smaller portions of food.

I hope that clears it up. Green tea is not magical but can form part of a healthy diet.