Karen Brooks Nutrition And Wellbeing | Nutritionist UK | Nutritional Therapist Yorkshire

The Environmental Working Group's 2019 "Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen" list of fruits and vegetables with the most/least pesticide residue was released earlier this month. The best way to avoid harmful pesticides that can act as endocrine disruptors (chemicals which can interfere with the body's hormone systems) and potentially increase cancer risk is, where possible, to opt for organic versions of the…

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Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), the two main forms being Crohn's Disease and Ulcerative Colitis, affect more than 300,000 people in the UK. These conditions are a result of problems with the immune system which lead to inflammation in the lining of the gut. Gut microbes and their metabolites (substances produced by microbes) also have an important role to play in IBD. Consumption of…

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It has long been assumed that the gut and the brain communicate via a slow, hormonal pathway. Now a paper that has just been published in the renowned journal 'Science' shows that there is a faster means of communication between gut and brain. By researching a mouse model, they were able to show that the gut…

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Have you ever found that there are some nights when sleep doesn't come easily? Sleep is one of the pillars of good health. Poor sleep is associated with weight gain, poor concentration, increased risk of heart attacks, strokes, type 2 diabetes, depression, impaired immune function and chronic inflammation. Whilst reading around the various strategies to improve sleep I came across the consumption…

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Chewing your food well is advice I often give to clients. This may sound really obvious and somewhat parental yet chewing is an important, but sometimes under-appreciated, stage of digestion. It is not uncommon for people these days to be eating in a rush, at their desk, walking around, in front of a screen - in which case the body will most likely not be in what we refer to as a "rest and digest" state. Think…

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Just recently, I've been using a wider variety of spices in my cooking, as I am aware many of them have therapeutic value as well as being…

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"The growing evidence for nutritional psychiatry suggests that GPs and mental health professionals should now seriously consider including dietary counselling for patients who are at risk of depression." Read the full article…

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There is no doubt that a high sugar diet is detrimental to health. Sugar occurs naturally in many foods and is added to most processed foods, under several different guises, making it difficult to avoid and to determine how much we are consuming. Excess sugar consumption has been associated with many illnesses and so reducing our intake is a crucial step in preventing ill health. In my opinion, giving…

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