Sophiedietitian

Imagine if all the time and energy that we all put into obsessing about the shape of our bodies and dieting, went into solving world hunger, environmental issues or even in to your job, a creative outlet or your loved ones. : ūü߆ Imagine a world where you spent your commute thinking about how to overcome your challenges at work or at home instead of whether your should be vegan or paelo this week. :... ūü߆ I see many women in my clinics who have incredible careers and wonderful relationships and yet, they expend a huge amount of their mental energy on wishing their body was different or feeling guilty or scared about eating. : ūü߆ It can be really empowering to ask yourself ‚Äúwhat could I achieve if I put that mental energy into something positive?‚ÄĚ. : ūü߆ It isn‚Äôt easy to change these thought processes. It usually starts with noticing them. Effort is needed to catch yourself in the act and consciously think about something positive instead or do something that makes you happy like text a friend, find something that makes you smile or listen to your favourite song. : ūü߆ This work is needed if you want to improve your relationship with food. Often this advice and support doesn‚Äôt seem like ‚Äėdietary advice‚Äô but ultimately, our thoughts and feelings about food and our bodies influences our food choice. : ūü߆ Imagine a world where in a years time, you don‚Äôt bully yourself about your body or judge yourself or obsess about what you‚Äôre eating‚Ķyou invest in friends and family, you have a creative outlet, you do exercise you enjoy, you find fulfilment from your work and you make food choices from a place of self love, not self loathing‚ĶI suspect your choices might be more positive.
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I had a message the other day from a dietician who disagreed with some of the things that I said on one of my Instagram Story Rants
That dietician tuned out to be SophieDietitian
Sophie certainly knows her stuff!
... A well-recognised, leading dietitian in London, Writer for Forbes magazine and expertise in gastrointestinal and colorectal health.
It's safe to say she wasn't going to take any crap from me... (sorry I couldn't help myself)
We both agreed to continue our discussion on Facebook Live this Tuesday 7th May at 7pm for all to see.
Make sure you're tuned in to this one you are not going to want to miss it!
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Sometimes my inability to keep my mouth shut leads to positive discussions ūüôĆūüŹĽūüôĆūüŹĽ

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I‚Äôm really excited to air some grievances and talk dietetics with @jayalderton next week : ūüí•... Catch us on Facebook live (Facebook.com/SophieDietitian) for all the action. : ūüĒ• Let‚Äôs hear the worst nutritional advice you‚Äôve ever heard a personal trainer give ūüĎáūüŹĽūüĎáūüŹĽūüĎáūüŹĽūüĎáūüŹĽūüĎáūüŹĽ< br> See More

Super excited to be invited to this panel discussion ūüôĆūüŹĽūüôĆūüŹĽ

Please share this far and wide ūüôŹūüŹĽ * ‚ėēÔłŹ Every time I say this to a group of young women they look horrified. *... ‚ėēÔłŹ Skinny teas, coffees and cleanses are dangerous. * ‚ėēÔłŹ Choose to have babies when you‚Äôre ready, if you choose to but don‚Äôt get pregnant because an influencer sold you laxatives. * ‚ėēÔłŹ Summer bodies weren‚Äôt made in the labour ward ūüė¨ * ‚ėēÔłŹ Skinny teas or coffees won‚Äôt make you thin and being thin won‚Äôt make you happy ūüíē
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Fibre is MAGIC! * ūü•Ě It does so many important jobs in our bodies. My clinical focus is on colorectal disorders and diseases. I love teaching my clients about how different types of fibre impact their bowel function. *... ūü•Ė Soluble fibre, like grains, oats, lentils and fruit creates a gel type substance in the bowel which helps to keep the poo soft and easy to pass. This reduces the need to strain and lowers the risk of piles and rectal tears which are way more common than you might think! * ūü•ó Think of soluble fibre as being anything that you could push through a sieve if you soaked it or mushed it up. * ūüćá Insoluble fibre, like fruit skins, dried fruit, nuts, seeds adds bulk to the poo and reduces the amount of time the poo takes to travel through the bowel. * ūüĆĹ This type of fibre couldn‚Äôt be pushed through a sieve. Sometimes, this type of fibre can cause irritation and discomfort for people with certain bowel disorders (never cut out anything from your diet without guidance). * ūüćÜ Having plenty of both types of fibre in the diet **FOR PEOPLE WITH HEALTHY BOWELS AND NORMAL DIGESTION** can help to prevent bowel problems and can also keep you fuller for longer and prevent heart disease. * ūüć† All types of fibre are PREBIOTICS, that means that it feeds the friendly bacteria in out colon which are magical creatures and should be fed and cared for in the same way you would look after a pet! * ūüćĎ The top three sources of fibre are: grains, bread and breakfast cereal. Low carb diets demonise these foods and make us think that they‚Äôre not healthy. This often leads to constipation and starves our gut microbes (FEED YOUR FRIENDS!). * ūü•® As always, there is a happy middle ground where you get all the benefits of fibre and can still manage your weight without having to cut out food groups. You just have to depolarise diets and find the middle ground. * ūüćĆ I see lots of patients with complicated bowel disorders who have been given potentially dangerous advice from people without adequate knowledge of colorectal disorders. This has often made their problems worse (and cost them lots of money). Increasing fibre is not always the right advice. Always ask an expert ūü•≥ @ SophieDietitian
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Yep, you don‚Äôt need to tell me, I know peanut butter has lots of good stuff in it. : ūüź• : The point is...we‚Äôve let the wellness community tell us what we should and should not feel guilty about eating based on NOTHING but the appearance of the influencers. ... : ūüź• : Eat the chocolate, it‚Äôs Easter. : No food should be served with a side of guilt or shame.
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Inspired by the amazing @amy_abrahams and the AWFUL THIGH GAP Diet Food‚Ķ : ūü¶ī Please don‚Äôt aim for an impossible body goal. It will lead to feelings of inadequacy and sadness. MOST women can‚Äôt have a thigh gap AND be a weight that supports healthy physiological processes. :... ūü¶ī Please remember that MOST of the thigh gaps you see on instagram are posed, airbrushed and surgically enhanced. : ūü¶ī Dr. Esther Fox (@Esther rthephysio) is a physiotherapist and has a PhD in imaging of abdominal and pelvic muscles in core stability training (she knows her stuff) : ūü¶ī Dr. Fox says‚Ķ‚ÄĚa thigh gap is an impossibility for 80% of women due to the shape of their pelvis and femurs and the presence of muscle on inner thigh which is vital for walking‚ÄĚ : ūü¶ī ‚ÄúTrying to emulate a thigh gap by tilting your pelvis is likely to give you back pain and weak buttocks‚ÄĚ : ūü¶ī ‚ÄúLack of muscle strength / power around the hip is one of the biggest problems I see in most people. Weak hip muscles often results in hip pain back pain knee pain foot pain, even shoulder pain.‚ÄĚ : ūü¶ī So please don‚Äôt think you can eat or train your way to a thigh gap. You‚Äôre training and eating your way to sadness. @ SophieDietitian
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It was great to contribute to this article on intravenous vitamins for The BBC. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-4780328 6 : ūüíČ Please remember that your body has gone through thousands of years of evolution to STOP YOU from putting things directly into your blood stream.... : ūüíČ Our bodies have highly adapted mechanisms to prevent us from absorbing too much fluid or nutrients (vitamins and minerals) into our blood streams. : ūüíČ Overriding these mechanisms and thinking you‚Äôre going to benefit it madness. : ūüíČ Trust physiology, trust your body. Don‚Äôt let ANYONE put anything into your veins unless it‚Äôs a medical requirement. : ūüíČ The potential side effects are terrifying and the best you can hope for is very expensive wee. @ Mayfair
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There isn‚Äôt really any advice about food that‚Äôs correct for everyone but almost everyone should eat more plants ūüĆĪ : I‚Äôm sick of seeing lists like this with sugar, meat, dairy, carbs or any food at all on the no list!! ūüćČ : PRO TIP: the more you tell yourself you‚Äôre not allowed something, the more you will want it! ūüć© :... If you focus on positive health behaviours and less on restriction, you‚Äôll end up healthier and happier! ūüßĀ : Your food choice is massively impacted by your mood and how tired you are. Consume far more joy than stress and you‚Äôll reach the right balance. Exercise should be joyful, food should be joyful, your interactions with others and social media should be joyful ūüĎĮ‚Äć‚ôÄÔłŹ : Sometimes we use food (excess or restriction) as our only source of joy or validation. This is never a healthy scenario ūüćČ : Find more sources of joy and/or manage out negative influences and you‚Äôll be less reliant on obsessing about whether you can or cannot have doughnuts to get you through the day ūü§ó
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Very excited to be featuring at the next @womenofpoweruk event to talk about what wellness means to YOU! ūü•Ď : Can‚Äôt wait to talk about moving away from the look of wellness and think about what wellness feels like. ūüćé... : Please come and network with amazing people and support these super exciting and inclusive events. Tickets available from @womenofpoweruk - link in bio ūüėćūüôĆūüŹĽ
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Thinking about what to give up for lent? Have a read of this piece that I contributed to for Cosmopolitan.
Using lent to reset a habit is great but giving something up and then obsessing about it as a consequence is far less healthy.
... https://www.cosmopolitan.com/…/what-nut ritionists-give-up-…/
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ūüôĆūüŹĽūüôĆūüŹĽ Science Sunday ūüôĆūüŹĽūüôĆūüŹĽ It was amazing to get so much engagement with my last post on body composition! ūüĎ©ūüŹľ‚ÄćūüĒ¨
I‚Äôm going to continue the theme of unrealistic body goals. I want to talk about how our #bodygoals heroes make us think that if we just followed their diet or did their exercise programme, we could look like them. ... ūüĎ©ūüŹľ‚ÄćūüĒ¨
Let‚Äôs start off by saying that photoshop, cosmetic surgery and age already make 90% of the bodies on Instagram unattainable. You can‚Äôt have it unless you edit it, pay for it, or can be younger. Soz. ūüĎ©ūüŹľ‚ÄćūüĒ¨
The second picture is of a normal distribution curve. This is what we use in science to understand what is likely to be the case for MOST PEOPLE. ūüĎ©ūüŹľ‚ÄćūüĒ¨
The central, orange arrows represent 68% of the population or MOST people. ūüďą
One standard deviation each side represents 95% of the population, so almost everyone.ūüďČ
The outliers are furthest away from the centre are the ones who‚Äôs bodies do things that are beyond the capability of 95% of the population. ūüĎ©ūüŹľ‚ÄćūüĒ¨
There are people who can achieve that perfect shape you want and they might not even have to try very hard. Those men and women do exist but they are not the norm. ūüĎ©ūüŹľ‚ÄćūüĒ¨
Just because ‚Äėperfect‚Äô bodies are the only bodies you see on Instagram or in magazines, that does not mean that they are normal or achievable bodies (for MOST people). ūüĎ©ūüŹľ‚ÄćūüĒ¨
Your body is YOUR body. It doesn‚Äôt matter how you eat or exercise, it will probably never look like that person who has that body that you want. We must learn to optimise our health (mental and physical) through nutrition and exercise with goals that are tailored to our own bodies and our own lives. Not someone else‚Äôs. ūüĎ©ūüŹľ‚ÄćūüĒ¨
If the person whose body you most admire gets money for looking like that but you have to do an office job...guess what? It‚Äôs probably unrealistic. ūüĎ©ūüŹľ‚ÄćūüĒ¨
Look at YOUR body and be realistic about how it would look at its healthiest if you weren’t obsessing about your diet and training yourself into exhaustion. That’s your goal. @ London, United Kingdom
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As it‚Äôs Eating Disorders Awareness Week I think it is important to highlight how Instagram distorts our expectations of body image. ūüćĎ
There is really robust research demonstrating the hormonal disturbances that occur when a woman‚Äôs body fat percentage falls below 22%. ūüćĎ
Our Instagram #abs heroes are highly likely to have suboptimal fertility and may therefore be compromising their health to make you feel inadequate **SORRY to inspire you to hit the gym ūüė≥ ūüćĎ
... Please don‚Äôt confuse aesthetics for health ūüôŹūüŹĽ please don‚Äôt look at someone‚Äôs genetically or surgically exceptional body and think that‚Äôs how yours ‚Äėshould be‚Äô ūüôŹūüŹĽ ūüćĎ
Maintaining visible abs requires sacrifice and dedication for men and women. If you‚Äôre worrying about having abs, you‚Äôll also be worrying about what you‚Äôre eating and you‚Äôre unlikely to be enjoying your life to the full. ūüćĎ
You‚Äôre probably also worrying about your job and your family and your other priorities. Don‚Äôt add an unobtainable and suboptimal body ideals to your list of worries. ūüćĎ
I promise there is more to life than abs. Physical and mental health should always be prioritised over aesthetics.
https://academic.oup.com/humrep/article/2 3/11/2555/2913840
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Another great reason to eat your 5-a-day ūüôĆūüŹĽūüôĆūüŹĽ

Here I am on Inside the Factory with Cherry Healey!
Catch the whole episode here:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/…/inside-the-fact ory-series-5-1-potat…

Who wrote the rules on what you can and can’t eat?
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Why do you follow those rules?
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Does your diet still bring you joy and social inclusion and deliciousness?
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Please remember that you can choose how you eat. Giving your diet a label will encourage judgement and stigma from yourself and others when you don‚Äôt follow ‚Äėthe rules‚Äô.
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Your diet is YOURS. The only rule should be that it provides nourishment for your body AND your soul!
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Many people have to involuntarily exclude food from their diet due to illness or allergy. They‚Äôd love to not have rules. Embrace your freedom. It‚Äôs a privilege ūüíē
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