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In my nutrition and functional medicine clinic, in Worcestershire, a vast majority of my clients suffer with anxiety. In the main, a large factor of their anxiety is their health. It is weighing on my mind. At the moment, with the threat of an unknown, infectious and fatal disease, anxiety levels are likely high for

PLEASE SHARE: Today I have been reading some very interesting findings regarding Covid-19 and how it expresses in humans as compared to how it expresses in bats, and what we can learn from this in the management of the infection. When infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus, bats initiate an inflammatory response but then in response

PLEASE SHARE Having shared more lifestyle medicine tips recently, I thought today you might appreciate some dietary influence. The science of SARS-CoV-2 is rapidly unfolding, science journals are giving special priority to publishing papers on the topic and the brains of the cleverest researchers and analysts are whirling like the sufi dervishes. In my work it is critical to have the backing of solid scientific evidence for everything we suggest, and above all to comply with the hippocratic oath of “First ,do no harm”. And so, right now with insufficient evidence, the only way of assuring no harm is to support the body with diet, in preference over supplements. Here are a few little factoids and ways that diet can support us in this tricky time. Antibodies are proteins that are used by the immune system to neutralise pathogenic bacteria and viruses. So let’s provide them with the precursor ingredients and eat enough dietary protein. You don’t need to eat a huge amount but vegans and the elderly can be underprovided. Plants provide us with phytochemicals, many of which have seemingly magical characteristics. Of particular note are those that bind the same receptor that covid-19 does, thus reducing it’s capability to infect. In particular, let’s target garlic, citrus fruits (including the pith and peel), turmeric, ginger, onion and green tea. Inflammation makes the body more susceptible to infection, so now is a critical time to reduce chronic inflammation, something that is so prevalent and yet a silent affliction, you can be inflamed without knowing it. All refined carbohydrates and processed foods will instigate inflammation. So let’s cook from scratch, eliminating anything with flour or sugar. Avoid processed foods as the fat in them is very damaging, even if the quantities might seem small. And yet tuck in to good fats. The fat found in wild caught oily fish stimulates the same anti-inflammatory pathway as anti-inflammatory medication. How naturally cool is that?  Whilst no science has yet uncovered any direct effect of probiotics against covid-19, it has been recognised that a strong microbiome can enhance the immune system where its greatest capacity is, within the digestive tract. So eat fermented foods, a variety of colours of vegetables and fruit, and bone broth is enormously healing to digestive inflammation. And the scary note to end on is the strong correlation between obesity and covid mortality. This is the perfect time to learn to cook, to spend time providing sustenance for your family, to take joy in eating together and to lose a few pound whilst we have a non-existent social life. Come out of your hibernation looking like you’ve blossomed. With love, until next time, Kate

PLEASE SHARE I must apologise for not posting a tip yesterday. Like every one of my clients and friends I have spoken to recently, I seem to have good days and bad days at getting through this weird world of coronavirus. Yesterday was a bad day and I seemed to spend all day sleeping and reading about coronavirus mechanisms of action. This feeling of despair and powerlessness is what has inspired today’s post. There is a spectrum of emotions with love and joy and freedom at one end and despair, fear and powerlessness at the other. So it’s no great surprise that so many I’ve spoken to are feeling tearful as we’re having fear, despair and powerlessness drummed into us with every coronavirus update we read or see or hear. Our social media pages are filled with people suffering and the symptoms they are dealing with. The news is all about the extreme cases, be they very young, or super healthy, that’s the power of the online news world. The thing is that stress and all of these emotions actually damage your immune system making you more susceptible to infection. So it is critical, not just for your mental health, but for your physical health too, to nurture your sources of pleasure and counter your sources of despair and powerlessness. Face to face: Today I read that studies have shown that Facetime and Skype stimulate the same brain chemicals of joy as face to face contact does, as compared to telephone which doesn’t. So try to make some time to facetime your friends and family both for your good and for theirs. Find joy: As I write, our daughter a poultry lover who is over-excited about her duck eggs brewing in the incubator, is watching on youtube a family who have hatched an emu chick and this divine little beast is running around their house a bit like ducklings do each year in ours. I know all this joy for her is deeply therapeutic. This is very particular to her, but find your joy. Create hope: Have something to set your heart on and put steps in place to create it. I am on a mission to make my business more online and I am on a mission to make my body more streamlined so I am loving putting steps in place to get there. Nothing has changed yet but I have hope and excitement at what I’m going to create by the time we crawl out of this confinement. What could you create to give you hope?

PLEASE SHARE I always like to practice what I preach, so today I feel a bit of a fraud. I freely admit, sleep and I aren’t exactly bed partners. I’m in awe of sleep, I think it’s one of the most beneficial things for health, if not THE best thing you can do for health. Did you know that most health practitioners, yes, even those whose primary field is nutrition, feel that out of the health trinity of diet, exercise and sleep, sleep is the most important? But sleep and I don’t always get what we want from each other, so I freely admit to being a work-in-progress. For personal interest, I have read pretty much everything I can get my hands on about sleep. I have tried every trick in the book. I may not be a good sleeper but I’m better than I was and, partly thanks to my avid late-night reading, my knowledge about it is pretty deep! Critically, for this post, poor sleep is the ruination of your immune system. Even when given a vaccine, sleep-deprived twins were found to raise less of an immune antibody response, and greater susceptibility to infection, than the sufficiently slept identical twins. Now the contrary thing is that during the threat of coronavirus and quarantine, our stress levels are high and with it the quality of our sleep is likely poor. I will come to stress management in a later post but would strongly suggest exercise, deep breathing techniques, distancing from the news, and laughter as ways of countering your stress and thus enhancing sleep. Matthew Walker, the author of Why We Sleep, suggests 10 commandments for good sleep and they are:- Establish a regular bed time and wake time, that remains the same on work days and weekends. Try to avoid daytime naps, but if they are a habit, try to limit them to 45 minutes a day. Avoid excessive alcohol 4 hours before bed, and don’t smoke. Avoid caffeine 6 hours before bed, including tea, coffee, some fizzy drinks and chocolate. Exercise regularly, but not close to bed. Use comfortable inviting bedding. Keep your bedroom well ventilated, and find a constant temperature on the cooler side. Avoid heavy, spicy, sugar foods within the 4 hours before bed. A snack before bed can help some people, can worsen sleep for others. Block all distracting noises and keep your bedroom as dark as possible. Keep your bedroom for sleeping and sex only. I would however add on one critical one… limit exposure to screens with blue light in the evening, this stimulates your wake hormones, as does the blue natural light in the morning. But natural light turns amber and red in the afternoon and evening, which stimulates the production of melatonin, the sleep hormone. So sleep well, my followers, and I’ll be back with another tip, bright and breezy tomorrow.????

PLEASE SHARE Yesterday, I said I’d share a tip a day on how to help support your health during the increased risk of coronavirus and the quarantine in the UK. Today I have been pondering which is the next most important thing. And there are two that I’m battling between. In the end I have come down on the side of exercise. For me getting out for a daily walk has been my bliss point of the day. We’re lucky to have had wonderful weather, which helps. I suspect we aren’t far enough into the summer to gain much in the way of vitamin D but the sun has been so strong that I’ve been walking with bare arms, and I feel like I’m making vitamin D but I don’t know whether I really am. Whether I am making vitamin D or not, I’m making contentment. Stress makes you more susceptible to infection and being out in the countryside makes you more resistant to stress. Merely looking at a photograph of a rural scene has been scientifically found to relieve stress. The rhythmic trudge of walking is also metronomically meditative. The freedom to think is incredibly cleansing. If you’re lucky to live in the hills, which I’m sadly not, the puffing will stimulate your vagus nerve which initiates the rest and digest parasympathetic nervous system, again bringing about calm and stress relief. It is the one freedom that we still have so try to take advantage of it and get out there. Mentally you will feel far more resilient, far nicer to your family, your waistline will appreciate it and if you’ve got dogs, they will love you unconditionally, as is their wont. Just please be sensible. Keep your distance. And driving to a congregation point in the country just doesn’t wash. Please make sure your exercise can be taken within walking, running or cycling distance of home, driving to a beauty spot will make social distancing very difficult.