James Belbin - Nutritionist and Diabetes Mentor

Pass it on!!

NHS ‘soups and shakes’ diet to become available across the whole of England The NHS Type 2 Diabetes Path to Remission programme will be rolled out across the whole of England in 2024. This expansion will double the capacity of the programme, which will become available in 42 local health areas – up from 21 in 2023. We’re delighted to see the expansion of the Type 2 Diab...

All setup at the wonderful Luxford Centre in Uckfield today. Community sessions designed to help more people access key health and wellbeing services.

In the area? Drop in for tea and a chat about Type 2 Diabetes/Pre-Diabetes.

And we wonder why there’s an obesity crisis?

Nothing wrong with some Quality Street/Celebrations but buying ten or less tubs in August is clearly hoping you’ll polish them off whilst they are cheap.

Notice the intentional stacking of the levels and the packing left in place. Clearly leading one to think they are running low….

Another lovely patient leaving feedback.…very grateful ☺️☺️

Setting for todays diabetes clinics. Beautiful!!

Can a person with Type 2 Diabetes drink diet fizzy drinks?

Yes.

If you are currently drinking "normal" fizzy drinks, say Coke, Fanta etc and weight loss is your goal, then absolutely, you can make the swap to the zero calorie versions to maintain your fat loss goals.
Effectively by cutting out the calories in your drinks you can lose weight. Some people drink upwards of 5 soft or hot drinks per day and on average they can be up to 200 calories per drink.
Ergo, cut them out or swap to zero calorie drinks, save some calories for more food, or lose weight. Simple maths.
But there are some caveats:-
Water is always better.
You don't HAVE to drink them.
Watch your gut health, too much can cause gut distress. >10 cans per day.
children, pregnant women, nursing mothers, and those prone to seizures, headaches or migraines should limit or avoid.
So why all the negativity that we see about these drinks and in particular the artificial sweeteners?
Quite rightly there is scepticism about something "artificial". The alternative health market, which in itself is a huge industry, doesn't think that "artificial" anything has a place in our nutrition and have spent the past 30 or so years spreading confusion and myths about these products, with little or no science to back up the claims. Influencers and authors still continually write and talk about the subject, spreading fear, uncertainty and doubt about them, not realising that the chemical breakdown of a blueberry has a list far longer than sweeteners do.
Artificial sweeteners have been around a long time, about 150 years and there are many versions, some of which have an elaborate and complicated past. The fact that they have been around so long also means we have many hundred clinical studies on the damage they may cause and also the damage they don't cause.
Obviously the media like to cycle these stories, frequently writing about some of these studies and in particular linking them to diabetes and obesity.
"Fat people drink diet coke, so obviously that means they make you fat" - Daily Mail style observational comment!!
The most controversial nowadays is aspartame, used in Coca-Diet Coca-Cola and other such products. It is studies conducted on Aspartame that causes most of the attention. There was a study in 2005 on rats, which showed that by drinking these sweeteners their insulin levels rocketed and they then over ate at their next meal and stored fat.
Basically rats that drunk the drinks had chronic weight gain.
And it was this study that fuelled the recent cynicism. What they didn't share was the levels of aspartame was huge (

Thanks for the secret New Year plan 💪🏽

Skele-Layne will return next week with more disturbing facts 🤷🏼‍♂️

Man I cannot tell you the number of people I come across that can’t finish a training program or be consistent with their nutrition for more than a couple weeks before they get the itch to punch their dopamine receptors with “I NEED SOMETHING NEW!”

No. You need to be consistent. The reason you aren’t making progress isn’t because your training program isn’t ‘perfect.’ If the explosion of hypertrophy training research over the last decade has shown us anything it’s that you can grow muscle TONS of different ways so long as you are consistent, train with intensity, & practice the principles of progressive overload.

Likewise nutrition research has shown us damn near any type of diet can work to lose body fat is you are in a calorie deficit. Why do so many people struggle?

1) because they believe their own bu****it
2) they have the focus of a 3 year old.

The number of folks I’ve coached or spoken to who can’t go more than 2 weeks without wanting to change tons of variables is crazy. Not only is this NOT productive, on the off chance you do get better results you will have NO IDEA why you got results because you changed so many things at once

You are being CHILDREN hunting for that latest dopamine hit simply by changing things & inducing another ‘honeymoon’ phase for training and/or diet. That’s right, simply changing things induces dopamine hits. This is why kids have such trouble sacrificing short term pleasure for long term improvement. One of my favorite quotes is from Dave Ramsey who said “Children do what FEELS good. ADULTS formulate a plan & execute it!”

I am not mad at you. But if you don’t stop chasing short term stuff, you will NEVER hit your long term goals. You don’t need a special new shiny program… you need to get your s*** together & commit to boring consistency. It will change your life. I know because it changed mine

Covid Covid everywhere!
How are you holding up?
It seems like a good time to just do a check in on our immune systems.
What are the things we can do to give our immune system a boost?
1. Be vaccinated - does this need an explanation? I’m not sure it does.
2. Prioritise good quality sleep - go to bed at the same time and get up at the same time daily. Visit our sleep clinic if you need more help with this.
3. Properly hydrate - central heating can have us need the same amount of water that we need in the summer but the cues aren’t there.
4. Think of your nutrition - a Mediterranean diet still wins in the research I’m reading. Eat that rainbow. Avoid processed foods. Avoid using smoothies for this. You want to slow the passage of food through your gut to encourage a healthy micro biome.
5. Get outside - our vitamin D drops at this time of year and we get it from the great outdoors. Being in nature and even looking at nature can help your immune system. Daylight as soon as you can get it helps regulate your cortisol and melatonin. If you really struggle with a seasonal dip in your mood or you work a day that means no daylight then it’s worth trying a SAD lamp.
6. Take some vitamin D as a supplement unless you live in a sunnier country
7. Learn some breathwork techniques - this is a great way to boost your immune system. Deep nasal breathing to lower your cortisol level and use the full depth of your lungs.
8. Think about your mental health - inflammation moves across our blood brain barrier and depression is linked to low immunity - look back at our posts for help with this but prioritise those social connections and treat yourself by increasing your self care
9. Avoid toxins in your system - top ones being alcohol and ci******es but pollution generally probably falls in here
10. Take some regular exercise - yes I know I’m repeating myself but exercise helps us to have a strong body and mind - a good idea right now!
Stay well people!
These are tips I would suggest we all do but they are also useful if you find yourself looking at a positive PCR test result.