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Month: April 2017

So what exactly is nutritional therapy?

Posted on 2nd April 201718th October 2021 By JoanF

Welcome to my very first blog post as Empowered Nutrition! I’m hoping to post lots of information on optimising your health through nutrition and lifestyle, which I hope you will find interesting. And if there’s a topic you’d like to learn about that I haven’t covered yet, please let me know in the comments and I’ll do my best to oblige.… Read the rest

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joans_empowered_nutrition

Registered Nutritional Therapist helping people feel healthier & more energetic using diet & lifestyle changes.
Special interest in breast cancer.

I've just come back from a beautiful retreat weeke I've just come back from a beautiful retreat weekend at the Penny Brohn centre near Bristol. If you've never been - well, what can I say, you can see what a gorgeous place it is! The food is always incredible too and I came away with new ideas for keto.

I can't believe that the last time I was there was in 2017. There is something timeless about the building and grounds, and it felt like coming home.

Whilst I know that I'm privileged to have been able to go on retreat, I do think that in our modern world everyone would benefit from going on retreat at least twice a year. Being in a "retreat bubble" away from the responsibilities and cares of daily life really does give the nervous system a chance to regulate.

#retreat #integrativeoncology #holisticapproachtocancer
My mind is full from the first part of @dawnewaldr My mind is full from the first part of @dawnewaldron 's Fluxable course for practitioners working with cancer clients. Really excited about 3 more days to follow!

#fluxable #integrativeoncology #nutritionforcancer #metabolicapproachtocancer
It was such a joy to be part of Empowered Living & It was such a joy to be part of Empowered Living & Breast Cancer's Nurture & Nourish retreat once again this year. Open-hearted women who have had a breast cancer diagnosis gathered at the beautiful @sanctuary_farm  in Sussex for a weekend of bonding, movement, nourishing food, nutrition, crafting, essential oils and time in nature.

I talked about caring for your gut after a breast cancer diagnosis and treatment.

Thank you to @gillycant , @thebreastcancerconversations  and Clare Marten White for all your hard work that made it such a special time. I was really honoured to be a part of it.

Just a few photos - there will be more later.
A little update on my continued adventures in keto A little update on my continued adventures in ketoland...

I've been following a ketogenic diet and in ketosis every time I have tested since shortly after starting on 24th March. Originally the plan was to stay strictly in ketosis for 8 weeks so that I became fat adapted, and then "flex" in and out of fat burning, eating a more glycolytic (carb burning) diet on some days.

That plan changed when I found out I would be starting a targeted breast cancer drug called capivasertib. Capivasertib can cause hyperglycaemia and even type 2 diabetes, so I decided to stay in ketosis until I got a feel for my blood glucose response to capivasertib. 

Until today. Church lasted half an hour later than longer this morning, and when we arrived home my husband and son were already quite hungry. I had planned to make them dhal, and make myself an omelette. But I found I couldn't face making 2 lunches, so I just ate a big bowl of dhal with them. I then thought I might as well really go for it and ate a delicious nectarine afterwards (how I have missed fruit!).

This shows my blood glucose and ketones 1.5 hours (plus a 25 minute walk) later. Seems it will take more than one meal to convince my body not to stay in ketosis.....

#ketogenicdiet #therapeuticketogenicdiet #nutritionalketosis #integrativeoncology #metabolicflexibility
One of the things you have to learn to do when liv One of the things you have to learn to do when living with cancer is to adapt to the unexpected.

In February, the discovery of a tumour in my femur put an end to running 😥😥. Other high impact exercise was out as well, but not being able to run hit particularly hard. I wasn't a great or long distance runner, but it had been my go-to cardio exercise for many years. You can do it wherever you are, without much planning or equipment, alone, and it was great for my bronchiectasis.

My orthopaedic consultant said that cycling is fine. I had a bike and did cycle a bit, but....my bike (bottom pic) was 28 years old! It was a necessary part of living in Cambridge when we moved there, and I used to cycle to work. Each of my boys in turn sat on a child seat on the back and it has taken me on many family rides, so I was very attached to it. BUT it had got very rickety and I didn't feel too secure on it with bone mets, especially not if I was going to use it more frequently.

Enter my new bike (top pic). It's much easier to ride, and a lot smoother. Whether or not I use it on any days that aren't sunny and still remains to be seen!

I'm also doing a lot of Nordic walking.

I took my old bike to Recycles, a workshop run by the Salvation Army that repairs old bikes and seels them (thank you @ax_carolyn for the suggestion). At the Ilford branch, the money goes straight to their accommodation for the homeless, directly upstairs. Knowing this made it a little easier to say goodbye to my bike. Thank you for your service, my old friend 🧡
Yesterday was a much better day in ketosis. Break Yesterday was a much better day in ketosis.

Breakfast: 3 egg omelette with chives, sautéed mushrooms, Swiss chard and some avocado with lemon juice.

Long break before lunch in which I went Nordic walking at quite a brisk pace and then went to a hyperbaric oxygen session. I was really hungry when I got home, and forgot to take a pic of my lunch, which was a big green salad topped with some roasted grated tempeh. When looking at my intake on @cronometer_official , I realised my intake of a lot of B vits was low, so I made a dressing of tahini, olive oil, lemon juice and nutritional yeast - really good!

Dinner was organic lamb steak with capers, a little bit of celeriac mash (good low carb root) and crispy roasted kale.

Improving GKI (glucose-ketone index) readings throughout the day 🥳

I attempted my Greek yoghurt breakfast again this morning with fewer berries, but it still didn't work. My blood sugar was really low but I didn't produce many ketones - looking at the macro ratios they are all wrong, even with full fat yoghurt. This is a big disappointment, as eating eggs for breakfast makes me feel a bit queasy (I'm fine with them later in the day). Ideas welcomed! Maybe it'll work in a few weeks when my body has got more used to making ketones?

#nutritionalketosis #ketoforcancer #cleanketo #therapeuticketogenicdiet ##metabolicflexibility
Today's attemp at a keto menu, although having eat Today's attemp at a keto menu, although having eaten it and monitored myself it had some flaws, so I wouldn't wholeheartedly recommend it.

Breakfast, top left, was Greek yoghurt with lots of seeds and some raspberries. I feel really reluctant to leave my yoghurt & berries behind, but this put me out of ketosis even though it was about 6g net carbs. I will try again another day, but I'm switching to eggs tomorrow. Bizarrely when I have eggs for breakfast I get really hungry mid-morning, but maybe it'll be different now 🤞

Hubby and I went out for lunch and it went a bit more wrong! I asked for king prawn and avocado salad, please hold the usual dressing and just give me olive oil and lemon juice. Well, there must had been about a teaspoon of olive oil and I went home hungry. Note to self - bring my own EVOO next time! This was then a problem as carbs were mounting yet calories were low, and the thought of guzzling EVOO at home didn't appeal...

Mid-afternoon and I was back in ketosis but my blood sugar was too low at 3.6. I didn't really want a big carb load but didn't want it going lower, so I had some toasted coconut chips, and my glucose went up to 4.2.

Dinner was leftovers from last night: mackerel coconut curry, cauliflower rice and a spoonful of homemade red sauerkraut.

Ketones 1.0, blood glucose 4.7.

I need to increase the fats and squeeze the carbs a bit. What has surprised me the most is how all the individual grams of carbs from low carb veg add up over the day! Lots of tweaking still needed - this is definitely a steep learning curve!

#ketoforcancer #cleanketo #therapeuticketogenicdiet #metabolicflexibility #nutritionalketosis
So begins my journey in ketoland. I find it hard So begins my journey in ketoland.

I find it hard to believe that in 13 years of dealing with cancer, and 8.5 years of being a nutritional therapist often working with people with cancer, I have never done a ketogenic diet myself. I felt  strong antipathy to it!

Now the time feels right. I have been strongly influenced by the amazing education @dawnewaldron provides in her Substack and elsewhere about mitochondrial flux. Plus my poor liver feels like it needs all the anti-inflammatory benefits it can get.

On Tuesday - chemo day - I did a water fast all day and then started eating keto on Wednesday. I was watching my blood sugar fall then stabilise, but I didn't want to test ketones (with my @ketomojo meter) until this afternoon, not wanting to be discouraged. I was pleasantly surprised to find I'm just into nutritional ketosis - I thought it would take longer.

There is a way to go before I reach more therapeutic levels of ketones, and longer still before I become fat adapted. At this stage it gets easier to switch between keto and more glycolytic diets - the holy grail of metabolic flexibility. But this is a start and I was pleased to see the ketones on the meter.

I'm tracking macros with @cronometer_official , which is pretty easy. I'm keeping it pretty simple in terms of diet - no fancy recipes yet - but if you're interested in seeing what I'm eating, let me know.

#ketoforcancer #therapeuticketogenicdiet #cleanketo #nutritionalketosis #metabolicflexibility
Concerns over hospital food aren't a new thing. Th Concerns over hospital food aren't a new thing. This from the Lancet in 1945, as part of a medic history display in a hospital waiting room.

It's ironic that a hospital chooses to show this, and yet the present day food at the same hospital trust leaves a lot to be desired! When I was an inpatient a couple of years ago, the only veg on offer was a mix of peas, sweetcorn and diced carrot, on repeat day after day. Don't you even have any broccoli, I pleaded?

#nhsfood #hospitalfood #foodismedicine
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