How DNA testing can help us to learn about our body
At our clinic, we offer DNA testing to identify your genetic patterns and provide scientifically-backed dietary recommendations tailored to your genes.
Genes play a significant role in shaping who we are and influencing various aspects of our lives. Through the analysis of specific gene pairs, our DNA test can determine the most suitable diet for your genotype. If you've tried generic diets in the past without success, it's likely because they weren't personalized according to your DNA. In our clinic, our trained dietitians/nutritionists analyze your test results to create a customized meal plan based on your genetic profile. No more guesswork when it comes to macronutrient composition! Your dietitian will know precisely whether your metabolism favors a low-carb, low-fat, or balanced diet. This strategy not only helps with weight loss but also improves overall health and helps prevent modern diseases. With the DNA test, you can also gain insights into your carbohydrate sensitivity...
6 steps to keep yourself motivated
1. Think about why you want to lose weight
If you have a clear reason in your mind why you want to lose weight, you are more likely to stay motivated and strive. If it is not clear the main reason you are doing it, you may give up.
E.g. I want to improve my health, or I want to live longer, or I want to feel good in a bikini’.
2. Set long-term goals
The best way to lose weight and maintain your weight loss is by setting long terms goals.
See the weight loss journey as a new lifestyle, by adopting new habits into your daily routine.
E.g. cooking from scratch for you and your family, trying new healthy recipes, packing your lunch box.
3. Set realistic and specific goals
With the help of a nutritionist, you can set realistic and specific goals. Be as specific as possible so it will keep you more motivated. The higher the expectations the higher chance to give up. Be honest with yourself and expect what is achievable.
E.g. I want to lose 10 kgs in 12 weeks for my summer holiday.
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Vegan diet: how does it work?
Veganism is a philosophy of life, based primarily on an ethical ideal and aimed at fighting the exploitation of animals. For this reason, the vegan diet is a plant-based diet, free of all animal foods such as meat, dairy, eggs, and honey.
People who adopt veganism in their lives, contrary to what many think, eat very well and in a varied way and nothing monotonous. Vegans eat any type of plant food origin, such as cereals, fruits, vegetables, tubers, vegetables, roots, mushrooms, seeds, among others.
Many people confuse a vegan diet with a vegetarian diet, know the main differences:
- Egg-Lacto-vegetarian: it does not eat meat, but it consumes foods of animal origin (milk, eggs, and honey, for example).
- Lacto-vegetarian: it does not eat meats and eggs, including products that use eggs as an ingredient.
- Strict vegetarian: DO NOT EAT anything that is of animal origin.
- Vegan: DO NOT CONSUME anything that is of animal origin, either in food, clothing and other aspects of life.
Compared...
Thyroid hormones changes: how to identify them
Thyroid hormones play an integral role in regulating the body's temperature and production of energy. In addition, thyroid hormones regulate protein synthesis and enzyme production at the cellular level.
Thyroid hormone deficiencies may be suspected clinically whenever an insidious slowing of the metabolism is observed as might be the case with protracted fatigue, low energy, depression, mental asthenia, coldness or cold extremities, fluid retention, or diffuse hair loss.
Conversely, thyroid hormone excess may be suspected when the opposite clinical picture is observed: excess energy, palpitations, anxiety, nervousness ("like I'm going to jump out of my skin"), short sleep, or feeling like everything is moving too fast".
Physically, such thyroid excess may present as heat intolerance, diarrhoea, idiopathic weight loss without loss of appetite, fine tremor of the extremities, and in prolonged cases, exophthalmia.
The right medical treatment combined with the best diet helps to...
After all, what is a low carb diet?
Much has been heard about the Low Carb diet, which, as its name implies, is a diet strategy with low carbohydrate intake and increased intake of healthy fats and proteins.
Traditional diets and nutritional guidelines recommend eating 50-60% carbohydrates. However, excessive consumption of carbohydrates has increased a lot of people´s weight because the carbohydrate that is not used as an energy source ends up being stored as fat and stimulates the release of the insulin hormone that favours the weight gain, insulin resistance, and increased hunger.
Generally speaking, a low carb diet ranges from 10-40% carbohydrates to the total energy value of the diet and may range from a more restricted low carb diet (ketogenic diet) to a moderately low carb diet.
The basics of a low carb diet are: avoid eating processed and processed foods and prefer real food. Different from what many imagine the low carb diet is not based only on eggs and bacon, in fact, the basis of the low carb diet is...
10 benefits of a Low Carb Diet
The low carb diet has been gaining more and more adepts and this nutritional strategy for weight loss is based on a lower intake of carbohydrates and a higher intake of healthy fats and proteins, as well as being based on the ingestion of vegetables, fruits (type and amounts recommended), seeds and oilseeds.
The top 10 benefits of a low carb diet are:
- Greater satiety and less hunger
The healthy fats and proteins present in greater amounts in the diet are responsible for giving a greater sense of satiety compared to the consumption of carbohydrates. And also because having a smaller amount of insulin being released into the bloodstream also there is a reduction in the feeling of hunger.
- Weight Loss and Loss of Body Fat
Insulin is the hormone responsible for storing body fat and preventing body fat from being used as a source of energy, so by having a lower release of insulin into the bloodstream, there is greater use of body fat as a source of energy.
- Blood glucose control and...
Why exercises won't make you lose weight?
The first step that many take when they want to lose weight is to do exercises: running, gym or functional training.
I recommend the practice of exercises, mainly for the benefits already proven to our physical and mental health and also to prevent diseases.
The truth is that doing exercises will not help you lose weight, why?
Because the exercises will not be able to compensate for a bad diet. Here's an example: if you walk 30 minutes you burn 200Kcal, which represents only 4 cookies or 1 ice cream (Sunday).
It is totally disproportionate how many exercises you have to do to burn just a few more bites. You have to climb several floors of a building to burn off a few calories.
Collaborating with this, studies have already revealed that:
- Exercise alone does not lose weight.
- Caloric expenditure generated by aerobic exercise does not promote weight loss.
Also doing exercises greatly increases your hunger and if you do not know how to make the right food choices will eat a lot more...
Vitamin deficiencies: what are the main signs and symptoms?
Vitamins are called essential micronutrients because they are necessary to the body in small amounts, but they are essential for the maintenance of good health.
The body does not store most of the vitamins. The deficiency of these vitamins usually develops in weeks to months. Therefore, people should consume them regularly. Vitamins A, B12, and D are stored in significant amounts, especially in the liver. Vitamins A and D are also stored in adipose cells.
Some vitamins (A, D, E and K) are liposoluble. Others, like vitamins B and C, are water-soluble. B vitamins include biotin, folate, niacin, pantothenic acid, riboflavin (vitamin B2), thiamine (vitamin B1) and vitamins B6 (pyridoxine) and B12 (cobalamines).
The state of nutritional deficiency occurs when the intake of nutrients does not correspond to the needs for optimal health of an individual. With this, there are some signs and symptoms that we should be aware of.
Some examples of nutritional deficiencies of the major vitamins:
...What´s the difference between food intolerance and food allergy?
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN FOOD INTOLERANCE AND FOOD ALLERGY
At the Raquel Britzke Nutrition Clinic in London, we have the Food intolerance test to detect various types of food intolerances with a small sample of blood. Knowing the differences and making the early diagnosis is of utmost importance to the health and quality of life of the patient.
In this test, we analyze 200 types of food.
We also conduct other tests to detect food allergies.
Click here to book your test directly or call +44 07428644457.
Get to know the different types of proteins
Proteins are present in thousands of foods and should be eaten in adequate amounts according to each metabolism to help and regulate body activities.
But, what are proteins?
They are substances formed by various amino acids, which perform numerous functions in the body since all organs require a type of amino acid to generate their function or stimulus.
Proteins are beneficial to health because they can control the digestion and absorption of other nutrients, help boost immunity, carry oxygen in the blood and to the muscles, improve energy and muscle contraction, as well as are associated with hunger and satiety hormones.
How proteins can help in losing weight?
Protein consumption should be divided throughout the day according to the number of meals. This subdivision will stimulate the process of reducing body fat and maintaining muscle mass or synthesis. The amounts and sources of protein consumed to ensure the effectiveness of weight loss depend on each person's life habits.
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