Justine Friedman RDN: Supporting YOUR Unique Journey to Health and Wellness

  Have you ever stopped to consider why, despite all the low-calorie foods available, we as a world population are continuing to see increasing numbers of overweight and obesity and the consequent chronic illnesses? With so many options available to replace staple foods in the diet of the last century surely, we should be able to maintain stable weights and avoid illness. There are so many health messages out there encouraging us to count calories, track calories and lose weight fast (or your money back) programs and yet the problem is compounding exponentially. In a recently published study (July 28th 2022) in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41430-022-01179-2 ) the paradigm of eat less and exercise more is challenged. This long standing and accepted approach that if the energy we take in in calories is less than the energy we expend through daily activities and basal metabolic rate we should always be in an energy deficit and therefore ...

  I have heard countless times from clients in my practice, as well as from friends and passersby how “carbs make you fat”. And where some people may have a point, the question remains is this actually true? If you have been on the receiving end of this misconception, then you may either feel relieved or fearful from what I am going to reveal to you today. Like a magician who uses sleight of hand, I will weave my way through the layers of untruths and bring you to a point of miraculous discovery and hopefully a newfound respect for the macronutrient known to have a “bad rap”. Let’s go back to where a lot of the damage was done. In the 1970’s there was a big push in the USA for the consumers to buy subsidized foods. This caused the population to purchase more of the lower cost products whose ingredients came from the categories of corn, soybeans, wheat, sorghum and rice. These lower cost and less perishable ingredients formed the basis of many food items such as high-salt processed ...

  We have all heard the term “You are what you eat”, but is this really the case? How does eating one way or another bring us to be defined by the food that we have chosen in that moment? There is a growing field of research that is exploring the incredible world of the gut-brain axis and how closely the two seemingly different organs in the body function. The brain is known to be our centre for thought, creativity, imagination, learning and without an optimally functioning brain the rest of our bodily systems are affected. So how does the gut, which we do not always pay attention to unless we perhaps feel uncomfortable after eating or happen to have disease in that area, impact the brain? Our gut is an open system that ingests not only food and drink but also air and with that airborne and food borne bacteria and viruses. The bodies first line of defence against any of these is the cells and environment that makes up a diverse system. The gut is responsible not only for digest...

  Achievemephobia- Why do we fear Success? Have you ever experienced coming close to success? The thrill of almost getting to your goal that you psyched yourself up for, worked hard to achieve and just as you are getting near to the finish line your plans are derailed.  Have you ever considered that the obstacles to getting to that goal were self-inflicted and are the result of self-sabotage? What??? Why on earth would you come so far, feel like you are almost there only to block yourself from actually reaching your desired goal? Fear of failure is something we can logically understand, however fear of success means that we are actually undermining achieving something that is in our own best interests. Lets explore what the anatomy of fear is all about in order to give us some insight into what fear of success is. In sports psychology there is a common phenomenon that is discussed, and the term big match temperament (BMT) is often used to define whether a sports team o...

  That’s it! You've made a decision. You reach a point where you have had enough of feeling unfit or unhealthy or overweight and uncomfortable or disorganised in your life. You are finally going to be happy and have the relationships you have always wanted. It’s now time to start to make changes so that you can finally succeed in the area you've been desperate to succeed for so long. This time it’s going to be different! This time you are not going to break the diet or stop until you get to our goal! Can you relate to these sentiments? Have you been in a position or are you currently feeling this way? That spark of motivation and inspiration can be so powerful. It is the driving force behind every persons push to finally start to improve the quality of their lives. So, the question is how do we go about making positive changes and implementing habits that will allow us to reach our health and wellness goals? These can be food or lifestyle related (improving relationships wi...