'Nutritional advice for the hormonal cycle' with The Family Nutrition Expert Catherine Jeans.

Do you feel like your hormones are going haywire?  Do you experience PMT every month, which changes your mood and your ability to manage stress?  Do you have heavy periods, or no period at all?  Or perhaps you’re peri-menopausal or going through the menopause, and you’re struggling to find ways to manage as your hormones shift. 

 All of these issues can be exacerbated or caused by hormone imbalances - your sex hormones oestrogen and progesterone should be kept in beautiful harmony across your cycle, interacting with other hormones like insulin and cortisol in a balanced way.  Yet very often, these hormones can become a bit haywire, and your diet and lifestyle can play a huge role in this.

So today, I wanted to share some of my top tips for balancing your hormones, so that you can help to keep your cycles more in harmony. 

1. Blood Sugar Balance

If you’re skipping meals, living on caffeine and letting your blood sugar swing all over the place, then this can imbalance your hormones.  You may feel like you can’t get through your day without something sugary to keep your energy up, or a coffee to keep you going. The problem is, the more sugar and caffeine you have, the more you need it to keep going.  Try to choose more sustainable, slow releasing forms of energy. This starts with ensuring each meal has a good handful of protein in it - including breakfast.  

So many women forget protein at breakfast, or any kind of breakfast at all.  Protein comes from meat, fish, eggs, dairy, nuts, seeds, beans and pulses, plus quinoa and buckwheat - so it might be as simple as a teaspoon of almond butter on your porridge or a big dollop of yoghurt, or some peanut butter on your toast (a good heaped teaspoon - think more protein and healthy fat, less carbs).  

Also if you’re snacking, base this around protein - so if you’re having a coffee - have a few nuts with it or a rice cake with hummus on.  Yes ideally we wouldn’t need to snack - but if you’re rushing around and finding you end up with low blood sugar and craving all the wrong things - then it’s better to have a protein-rich snack instead. 

2. Switch to SLOW carbs

Instead of white carbs, such as white bread, white rice and cakes and biscuits, choose slow releasing foods that are higher in fibre.  Not only will this help to keep your blood sugar more balanced, it may also help to support your gut microbiome.  All the trillions of friendly organisms in your digestive system also help to support your hormonal balance, by supporting a healthy clearance of oestrogen.  Slow carbs include sweet potato, white potatoes with skins on, brown rice, quinoa, pulses such as beans and lentils (and bean and lentil pastas), and root veg such as swede, parsnip and squash.  Also work on reducing the amount of sugar you eat. 

3. Get in the greens! 

Yep you need to eat plenty of veg to support your balance of sex hormones, and this especially includes dark green leafy veg such as broccoli, spinach, kale, watercress, as well as cauliflower, sprouts and green cabbage.  Aim to get in a couple of large handfuls of these everyday - you can put some kale in your smoothies, have broccoli with your evening meal and add some spinach, watercress and dark lettuce leaves to your lunch.  If you eat hardly any greens at all right now, just build up slowly or you may find you get really windy as your gut gets used to them! 

There are so many factors to consider with your diet and lifestyle when it comes to hormone balance.  These are just a few things to think about, and getting to the underlying causes of your hormonal swings is the key. 

Catherine Jeans is a fully qualified and highly experienced Nutritional Therapist, Author and Speaker specialising in family health. She works with 1,000s of clients globally whilst retaining her practise locally in Norwich, Norfolk.

Alongside her one to one clinic she also has a range of group and self-study nutrition courses. The courses cover a plethora of information focusing on making changes for life and making good nutrition normal for your family.

For more information about her work with women and hormonal balance, please go to Catherine’s website www.thefamilynutritionexpert.com 

'What to do when you can't do it anymore and it all gets too much' with Life Coach, Sam James

If you are feeling overwhelmed, exhausted and like you can’t do it anymore you aren’t alone. It is something that a lot of women experience at different times throughout their motherhood journey.

 For many women I talk to, they are juggling so many different elements of their lives and the mental load that comes with that is exhausting. Making decisions, remembering things and thinking in general literally, zaps a huge amount of your physical energy. Couple all of that with sleep deprivation or the ‘mum taxi duties’ it is no wonder you get to points of feeling like you can’t do it anymore.

So, what can you do when it gets like this? Here are some practical strategies for you to try:

1. Share the load. Ask for Help.

Communicate with your partner, family, friends. Don’t expect them to know you are feeling lost under the motherload. I remember hitting a point after the birth of my second child, when I was frustrated with family members for not offering to help me or appearing to get what I was struggling with. My mum said “I had no idea. You appeared to have it all under control and I didn’t want to intrude”. So, don’t hope someone will notice. Ask for help. Delegate.

2. Micro-moments of self-care

Finding ways to bring little doses of nourishment throughout your day / week, will help you feel like you have a bit more capacity to deal with the juggling. Some of my favorite ones are:

• Listening to music / podcast / audio book whilst you are doing jobs around the house, or driving, or walking to pick the children up from school. Something that leaves you feeling calm, or inspired or energized.

• Getting outside, even for a few moments, will bring momentary respite to your brain. Watch the clouds, or the trees moving in the wind, watch the rain bouncing in the puddles.

• Wear something that makes you feel better, this could be as simple as a favorite scarf or your favourite lippy.

• Seek out humour. YouTube Cat videos can be a great source of laughter for a few moments.

• Make a mindful cuppa. Check in with all your senses whilst making a drink – what do you hear, see, smell, touch, taste. Focus on that for a few minutes.

• Stretch or move. This doesn’t need to be a full yoga routine, keep it simple.

3. Brain dump

Empty your head of everything onto a piece of paper, in no particular order, with no judgement. Get it all out. So often mums I work with are scared to do this because it feels like a huge monster in your head. I promise you once you get it out on paper, it will be nothing like it feels at 3am whizzing round in your head, in the dark.

Once it is all out and on paper, then you can prioritize. What really is priority? What can wait? What can be delegated to someone else? 

Please remember, you don’t need to do it ALL. You can have boundaries, and say no. You can ask people for help and support. Find the rhythm and balance that works you and your family – be flexible and kind to yourself along the way.

About Sam James:

Sam is a life coach, working with women to help them find ways to juggle life in a healthy way for them. She takes people from a place where they feel like their heads are going to explode with everything they are juggling, to a place of clarity and knowledge about how to truly look after their needs.

Sam also creates a flexible, practical diary that gives you the space to plan and organise your life, along with gentle nudges to help you feel inspired and motivated throughout the year. It is called Stop the Flitter: Your Life, Your Way and you can buy it here.

Find Sam on Instagram @samjames_mumcoach, you can also visit her website samjamescoaching.co.uk for more practical tips. She sends “perfect timing” emails too, which you can sign up to here.

Setting up a food brand - Suzy Smith

How did you come with the idea Suzy?

I came up with the innovative idea for Bace Foods when my son was weaning. I was trying to give him food that would get his palate used to a variety of flavours, and made purees that I weaved into family meals, like soups and chilli. It meant they were all getting the veg they didn’t normally eat.

Founder Suzy Smith

When did you launch?

We’ve been going for only seven months now.

What advice would you give a parent about to set up a business different to their previous job?

Talk to people who are already doing it, people are so helpful. Do as much as you can yourself. Don’t wait - lots of people think they need to write a business plan and delay launching for 6-12 months, we advise to just launch. Get feedback, and tweak as you go. We’ve done over 30 shows, it has been a rollercoaster! We sometimes wonder why are doing this, and then the creativity, the freedom and ownership feels good.

How do you manage the business round the school run?

We literally pack up the van with all our equipment two mornings a week after the kids are at school, we head to our kitchen and produce as many pots as we can. The other days (and nights) of the week, we’re contacting potential stockists, building our social media, devising new recipes, planning and actually, we never really switch off!

More info here