A Lot On Your Plate - S4 Ep10: Dietician Kerri Major: Are green powders a fad?

Episode Date: April 16, 2024

This week on ALOYP we chat with Sports Dietician and Personal Trainer Kerri Major on all things diet and nutrition. Covering topics from what really is a balanced diet, is the '5-a-day' rule really enough to the truths behind the social media trending 'green powders'. We hope you find this as interesting and educational as we did, and here's to a happy, balanced (!!), healthy life🫶🏻👉🏼 Follow Kerri for more hints and tips @kerrimajor_dietician Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello. Happy Tuesday, guys. And welcome back to the best podcast in the whole entire world with me, Jessica. And me, Zoe. And our lovely guest, Kerry! Yay! So we said to you last week that we were getting someone very exciting on. We have Kerry Major.

She's a sports dietitian and personal trainer based here in Glasgow. And we love her. We love her so much. We love her. We love Katie. We've known each other briefly for a few years, haven't we? Because of your partner and Richard. Yeah.

Does he do again? He is a sports scientist. Sports scientist for, was it St. Mirren? Yeah, so that's how I heard of you. And then we worked a bit together on the panel of the Soho House, didn't we? Yeah, we did. And you were amazing on that. It was fun.

It was good. I just saying you talk very well. No pressure or anything, but you've got a nice voice. I think it just comes naturally. I know the feeling. And there's this big foghorn like, bra, bra, bra. Yeah, so that is why we wanted you on today, because we talk a lot of.

about food, obviously, and diet. And we do get a lot of questions wrote into us, should I say. And we are not qualified by any means to give proper professional advice, only our personal opinion and experience. So we thought it was important to get you on. And, yeah, and like I say, we love you so much. Educate. And we just love everything that you're about as well.

You're all about balance. And I think that is one thing that I live for, you live for, and we think it's super important as well. So, shall we begin with our spit or swallow? Then you bought us in some baked goods. Some home baked goods. So that's more important, really. Yeah.

So we have some salted caramel brownies because I don't think you can go a mix with a sort of caramel brownies. Wow. Oh, my God. We have some Easter themed back. Okay, I need that. I need that. Guys, look at the camera. Oh, my.

Wait, have you layered that with like. Caramel? Yeah. Well, it's not caramel, so it's got like a biscuit base. Holy shit. Mine going. That is unbelievable, Carrie.

Wow, what is that under that? A biscuit? So it's like a biscuit based. The kind of bottom of it is made with like... Oh, my God. Swapsies. Sorry, guys. We are actually speechless with the baked goods

that we are shoving into our gob right now. I don't want to talk anymore. I want to eat. That's you. I really need you to share the recipe for this because... Isn't this crunch? It's got a nice wee crunch to it, a bit of sweet and salty.

These are unbelievable, thank you so much. They're welcome. I wish you could all taste it to the microphone. It's just that balance. I'll put that on here. Shrub that down, please. Right, well let's just get in about it, shall we? So let's start with a bit of an intro.

So a bit about yourself, how did you get into this line of work? Why did you want to get into it? What did you have to study to get into it? So yeah, I probably always say that I'm like a dietitian by day. and then like PT by night. But it's mainly dietetics is my main job. Nutrition is like my main thing. And I kind of got into personal training just as kind of my pathway

where my journey went. I've always been really into sport and exercise. So I think when I went and studied dietetics, I always had this idea that I would be getting into sport, nutrition in some way. So I graduated back in 2012, which makes me feel really old. And then worked, I know, and then worked for a few years, just trying to get a bit of, you know, experience and stuff behind me working in kind of the clinical setting and things first.

went back to uni back in 2015 to go into do sports and I think I've probably always had this idea of working in elite sport I think when you think about sport and exercise nutrition that was definitely where my mind first went it was just I'd be working with a club or something like that but I don't know you'll probably know this just as well but getting into the world of sport is quite difficult in Scotland I don't know like through Richard and stuff like that is quite hard I think if I was really wanting to maybe kind of make my way in it I would probably have had to move down south

which is not really what I was kind of keen to do. So after I graduated from my postgrad, I just tried to contact all the clubs. I was lucky enough to be able to do seminars and things, which was great. But I think unless you're maybe getting into like a big club, you, I guess maybe it's all about who you know. And a lot of, unfortunately,

kind of maybe clubs that are either part-time or maybe aren't things like Rangers of Celtic, maybe don't see the value, or we're not considered just like a legal requirement the way a physio is. So it's quite difficult to kind of get your foot on the door. So I think for a while I just kind of resigned myself to the fact that NHS would be my main thing, which was where I was working for the last 10, 11 years.

And then I would just do sports nutrition on like a bit of a side hustle. But we've kind of done a bit full circle. I think when I started to do PT and it kind of made me realize that there's this kind of big area of, I guess maybe sports nutrition, the sports nutrition world that maybe gets neglected. So people that I would like to call everyday athletes like you and I that enjoy going to the gym, that enjoy training, maybe we are training for an event and we just want to be able to fuel herself properly, get the best out of our

training and make it worth our time and realise that they were kind of getting neglected almost. So I think personal training, even though I never intended to work in it, just kind of made me realise that that's probably where I feel really aligned to and that's kind of where I am today. So yeah. You kind of need both though, don't you? Like if you're on your own journey,

like you need to be thinking about your fitness and your nutrition. So they go so hand in hand. Yeah. And what's the difference between a nutritionist and a dietitian? Good question. I would love to know this answer. Me too. So the easiest way for me to explain it is that a dietitian is the only person that's regulated by law from a nutrition point of view.

So anyone could call themselves a nutritionist. You guys could. Really? Anyone could because they're not regulated by law. I might. And I think the tricky thing with that is that probably nutritionist is a more recognized title for. someone wanting to get information about nutrition. Which is why I always thought that was more like the premium.

Yeah. So what I would say though is that there's registered nutritionists out there that can do appropriate qualifications that can put themselves on a voluntary register, which is really good, which would give you an indication that they've done appropriate qualifications to show their credentials, if that makes sense, and show that they're appropriate to be giving you guys information. The difference between how a dietitian, though, can work and a nutritionist can work is that a dietitian tends to be, or we are the people that are able to give nutrition

advice based on clinical conditions so we can treat and diagnose nutrition-related conditions and support with that. Like a celiac or something like that. Inflammatory bowel disease, irritable bowel syndrome, whereas a nutritionist would tend to be able to give advice on kind of public health, general health eating and things like that as well. So that's where the kind of difference lies. So a nutritionist generally speaking wouldn't be able to go and work in a hospital clinical setting, if that makes sense because they don't do clinical placements

that we would have to do in uni if that makes sense. And how long is the course that you have to do? So you can go through it in a couple of ways. If you do dietetics as an undergrad, it's a four-year kind of undergrad course, sorry, but then you can decide to go in it in another way where you maybe do like another science degree that's half associated and then go in like a post-grad in dietetics or a master's and do it that way. Just study here in Scotland?

Studying in Scotland, studying Glasgow. Oh, I love that. We love Glasgow. We do love Glasgow. That's really interesting. interesting. Do you actually look after a lot of people that have IBS? Yeah, but it's not my main area. So I would say when I, when I was going through, like working in the NHS, that would be people that we would see quite often in there.

They would come through kind of clinics that they would have been referred by a consultant with IBS. Or you would be seeing them as outpatients, but not in my main job now. But it does tend to come up. A lot of people, I would say, suffer with IBS. Yeah, they do. So it tends to come up quite often in the day-to-day people that I would see from a sports point of view as well. It tends to be a big thing. So I think the point that it's always really worth highlighting is definitely that there's good nutritionists out there. But if people are wanting to work with someone, the best thing that I would say to people to do is always have a look at the Association for Nutrition Register.

And it's a voluntary register that those people that have done the right qualifications can put their name to. And it means that you're checking the credentials. They can't call themselves a dietitian, whereas I could call myself a dietitian and a nutritionist, if that makes sense. So it's the same way, if I always say to people, you wouldn't go to a mechanic for getting your teeth. done, if that makes sense. Why would you do the same for your nutrition? We eat every day or we should obviously hopefully eat every day and I think people are just very trusting of giving I guess they are getting their advice from people that are unqualified and that's where a lot of the times dietitians and registered nutritionists are kind of picking up the pieces a little bit.

Yeah. What's the biggest challenges you've faced in your career so far? Any standout? I actually probably would say COVID. I think I think I don't know if my other colleagues would agree. I think a lot of people that I still keep in touch with from my NHS job would say the same that I think unless you maybe worked in the hospital setting during that time, I don't think anyone really gets it. It was really, really horrible for the first, like, a couple of years that that was obviously as bad as what, you know, or when COVID was at its worst. Just I think it was already on, the NHS was already very stretched as it was. And then I think to have such a big impact and obviously the way COVID affected so many

people, I would say that was really hard. And I think the NHS and, again, guess maybe staff as well have kind of struggled to come back from that. Afterwards, so the kind of morale and I guess the sounds, maybe trauma is a bit, I don't know, I don't think it's a harsh word, but I think a lot of people often say we've got a wee bit of PTSD after working in the clinical setting after that. And did you work there at that time? Yeah. So it was an eye-opening way to work, but it was the nice thing about it was that everyone really

did try to come together and taking all the whole clapping for the NHS out of it because that kind of makes me cringe a little bit. But I think everyone did come together at that point and just we had to help and support people a lot more in different teams, work in different settings. So it was just a very different way of working back at that time. Yeah. I've seen you post on your Instagram maybe yesterday or the day before a reel

and you said in it that you haven't always had a great relationship with food on a personal level and fitness. Can you talk a little bit about that? Yeah. I would say I've always been into nutrition and fitness from a really young age I've always been, I would say a big fiddy I always remember enjoying cooking with like

my mum, my grand and things when I was younger and I've always done athletics from a really young age but I would definitely say kind of around the time the end of school, high school and then maybe as I was going through uni before I really kind of got my head together with what nutrition was all about

I went through my own journey with nutrition and fitness of where I focused just on the number on the scales where exercise was literally just a means of trying to make yourself smaller and it just took all enjoyment away from it which was really sad and I think I'd every day I remember getting up and standing on my scales wondering why things hadn't shifted and it was horrible and I often speak to my clients about that and say to them that one of the most scale weight has its place and with the right person it can be

a useful tool but often what I'll say to people it's one of the most liberating things is chucking out your bathroom scales and because all it literally shows is your relationship with gravity and nothing else that's the way I like to think about it doesn't show you anything it really means nothing it really does yeah we can literally go to the toilet and weigh two pounds different and also the time of the month as well especially in women how your weight fluctuates isn't that so important about how we train because sometimes we feel stronger don't when we go to the gym certain weeks of the month and then there's one where I think I feel so weak isn't that all to do with like your menstrual cycle absolutely um I think that's a really important thing

to talk about is that scale weight, like I said, has its place. And the only time probably me as a dietitian in my current practice now would ask for someone to give me their weight is to work out their requirements, because it's all weight-based equations that we use. Like macros and stuff. Yeah. So unless someone was, I was able to get someone into a lab somewhere and we could test how they oxidise all their food by wearing big, you know, fancy machines and stuff of that, which isn't going to happen. So weight can be useful at that point. But otherwise, I would say it's not, it's a really unreliable marker of progress and it's where I would say

for a lot of my clients, although for example, weight loss or fat loss can be a really appropriate goal and 100% it can be it shouldn't be the only marker that you use. So it's where things like yes, you could take other measurements or photos or whatever if you wanted but I often ask my clients to think about

things that are a bit more intrinsic if that makes sense. How are you feeling in your turning? Do you have energy? Are you sleeping better? Is your gut symptoms? Are they, is that all working as it should focusing on those things? will make your whole nutrition and fitness journey far more rewarding. Yes.

So we've got a few different topics just off of what our listeners have asked, what we want to ask. Yes, we've got lots of questions. Jess sent me a list about 40 questions, so I'd have to break them down. But the first topic, we're going to look at as diet. As a whole, everyone's quite interested in that. So what does a balanced diet really look like? To you.

To me. The way I often like to put it is that a balanced diet includes nutrients and enough energy that makes you feel good and a little bit of what you fancy. It sounds cheesy, but there's, yeah, I think a lot, I often say to people that, I think when you call yourself a dietitian, the first thing that often get told or people say to me is, I shouldn't be eating that in front of you. But I would say to you that if you, if anyone tells you to cut out certain foods, you probably should run for the hills because that is not. a sustainable approach to eating and there's foods that not every food needs to give you I guess maybe a nutritional value there's so much more or there's so many other reasons

that we eat the way that we do whether it's social, cultural, just sheer enjoyment out of it and I think that's where probably as we kind of went through the last maybe 10, 20 years where clean eating became a big thing a lot of people really lost that enjoyment out of it so I would say it's thinking the majority of the time of how you can fuel and nourish yourself with the right amount of energy the right amount in nutrients and things that your body needs,

but a little bit of what you fancy. Because a lot of people say about like the 80-20 rule, don't they? Yeah. Yeah, I think that's quite a good approach to have. It's definitely something that I speak to my clients about with all the time. And I think it kind of comes back to that idea of not having this all or nothing approach. And something that I speak to clients about all the time as well is thinking about, rather than thinking about what you feel you need to restrict,

think about actually what you can add in to your meals and snacks instead. It can be a really positive kind of mindset switch to think about because a lot of people think, I shouldn't be having X, Y, and Z, I need to be cutting out criss chocolates and biscuits. But actually, if you think about adding nutrients and focusing on nutrients instead of numbers can be a really good way to, I guess,

maybe switch the mindset a little bit on it and can make it far and where you're going to have an action. And do you believe in going on a diet? No. I think the word diet, I think, is often used wrong diet is just essentially how we eat. Yeah. And I think the connotations with the same diet

just ends up straight away coming to restriction. That's just off the work on a diet or I'm going on a diet. I'm like, oh my God, that is just the most toxic thing you've ever just said. It's quite an old-fashioned as well, isn't it? I understand if people say like I'm going on a... Try to be good. Or I'm cutting. Like, I don't know.

I know there's a lot of people in this fitness space that do that for lots of different reasons. And I understand that. But when they say I'm going on a diet, I'm like, what does that even mean? Yeah. I think the sad thing is, is that when, like I said earlier on, if someone had, for example, like a fat loss or a weight loss goal, I would always say it's totally appropriate for you if that's what you want to do. Because I think the way that social media is coming across now, it's as if you, when you say that you're trying to lose weight, it's often shamed

a little bit now as well. I don't know if anyone else feels that. So I think it's totally acceptable for that to be your goal, but I think it's known that it's, you're doing it for lots of other health reasons as opposed to, like we said earlier on, just from an aesthetic point of view, you know, over anything else. And I think as soon as the word diet comes in, that's often what people put it down to is that they're just doing it for an aesthetic goal. restriction, the restricting things that just makes the whole process not enjoyable. And is it actually sustainable? Your diet is actually what you should be thinking about eating and enjoying the majority of the time. Yeah. So a diet, I think when people say that, it's just something

that they're going to do for the short term. So actually thinking where if you want to make changes, it's what you're going to do in the long term and where certain diets that I often say, why are you going to, is that something you can stick to the long term? If it's not, why are you going to do it? Yeah, short-term fixes. And I understand I was the same. I'd go on like juice cleanses or I'd do things like no carbs before marbles and all that bollocks like I would and I'd just think I was so miserable for those two weeks and then what I found is when I go on holiday I'd go to the all you can eat buffet and drink beer beer bit and I was a big bloated pig and I put all the way on just like that. And it was like what was all that for? If I just started a bit earlier and maybe just

changed habits I wouldn't have been such a yo-yo dieter. And I think the bit that I find or I guess I'm really passionate about is if again if we're talking about fat loss again here is that you can do it without really having to make significant changes and sometimes it's little minor tweaks that you would really need to make to your nutrition and fitness you know regime if that's the right way to put it can actually make a huge huge difference and where people often go wrong is they try and have that again all or nothing approach where they totally strip things back they cut out you know a horrendous amount of calories from their usual intake or they cut out their favorite foods and it only lasts so long and then they go back to where they started again.

Sounds like someone, I know. Yeah. Myself. But I feel like with nutrition as well, like you say, it's a lot more to it than fat loss. It's about how you feel. And you know I found things when I'm putting good nutrients in my body. My skin's better. I sleep better.

The whites in my eyes are like if I drink more water, they're brighter. I look more alert. I know just loads of things. It's not just about feeling a bit looser in my genes, which is just a bonus as well. Perform better in the gym. Yeah. It's often where the term that I use quite a lot of clients

is rather than thinking about diet and exercise, thinking about fuel and performing. So you fueling your day, you adding nutrients to your day, you perform and not just in your training, for example, but you thinking about how you perform in your work, how you are in relationships with your kids, with your family, whatever, because we need enough energy to fuel our day, not just our training. And that can be a really kind of nice mindset.

sweats all from diet and exercise. I remember when I worked in an office and I know this isn't a bad thing because we all deserve that 3pm sort of treat and everyone gets tired around that time of day don't you because you've sat a lot to a computer screen all day but I remember used to have the 3pm slump and I would

have like a big sugar rush I'd have loads of biscuits with tea and then I would feel like ass and then I was meant to go to the gym after work and I couldn't I can't I actually can't and for that short period of time yes the one biscuit might have been okay but maybe not the five but then would genuinely feel like shit and I don't know if my blood sugar or something just spikes and then

it just crashes I used to happen literally every day yeah I just think this is such a bad habit to have and I know it's going to make me feel like shit but why do I do it yeah it's often maybe like what it comes down to especially around like three o'clock tends to be that that time you said that everyone gets that three o'clock slump and often what I would tend to ask people about is what was your meal or snack like before so how did you tick the what I would call the balanced plate checklist where we want to think about including a source of complex carbs, including a source of protein, including a source of colour at least, which comes from your fruit and veggies. And if you did all that or it didn't do all that, that's probably

why you're ready to reach for kind of something that's going to give you that quick kind of sugar hit. That's true. A lot of people play down or slate sugar and carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are essentially just like kind of built up sugar molecules, if that makes sense when we talk about things like bread, rice, potatoes and pasta. And sugar is the first form of energy that our brain and our body wants to use. So when we have, I guess maybe been depriving ourselves of certain foods or our meals haven't been as kind of well made up as maybe they could be, that's where we often tend to reach for sugary-based foods because we know innately that that's going to give us a kind of quick release of energy. So, yeah. Wow. That makes a lot of sense. It does

make a lot of sense. Interesting. And I feel like you might have answered this if I'm getting the vibes. Right. But do you recommend intermittent fasting? No. I thought that. would be the answer. So I think there's a lot of, a lot of, I guess maybe attention on intermittent fasting and things just now. And from a performance point of view, what I would often say to people is that the, or maybe if we look at fat loss first, that's probably the easiest way to look at it. A lot of people think that it's a superior diet to be following to allow for fat loss to happen. But when research has been done comparing, for example, people that go on a standard calorie restriction, just the way that normally people would, would,

reduce the calories a little bit. When you compare that to people who do intermittent fasting and their calories are exactly matched the same, no one, or intermittent fasting people don't lose any more weight. So again, it's just showing time and time again that it comes down to being in a calorie deficit. So often what I would say to people, when it comes to intermittent fasting, the reason I think people are attracted to doing it is because it allows people to, they don't have to cut anything out. They aren't having to cut out their favorite foods. All it's asking them to do is eat within a particular window. So by reducing your eating window, all you're essentially doing is probably having to eat less because you're maybe missing out on having,

I don't know, a supper snack or depending on what time you fast from. So I think that's often what it comes down to is that it's a calorie deficit at the end of the day. And from a performance point of view, the issue that I would say that I have is that you might struggle to then fuel your training sessions well enough because of the times that you're fasting. And for females as well, our hormones are really sensitive to energy availability, which just means how well we fuel our day, for example. So there's been a lot of people I would say that I've worked with that have really struggled with or having issues with hormones and things,

losing their menstrual cycles and things like that because they are not fueling their training well enough, going into doing training fasted, which obviously comes with a whole array of health issues alongside of that as well. So generally speaking, I would say, and I feel like we're all fast, don't we? because we're sleeping for, what, like 10 hours, whatever. And breakfast means break fast.

You're breaking your fast. So it just depends on when you eat it. I guess with intermittent fasting, I've done it before. And I lost weight, yeah, because, again, I was missing out on a whole meal, basically. But I think I found it easier because I'm not really ever that hungry in the morning. So for me, I only ever feel hungry when I start, when I break that fast. And then I'm just, but I don't do it anymore. I did it for a short period of time.

And now I am hungry in the morning. now because I've got used to eating breakfast and you're right it did feel my day better I felt so much more alive and alert and I can't go to the gym without having some good fuel maybe not so much like before if I'm doing like a 6am class I can't but um I would come home and eat straight away because I'd be starving yeah yeah I think as well some of the a lot of people would argue that intermittent and fast and some of the other health benefits that are coming out from some of the research I think I think it's not really clear yet whether the benefits are coming from people who are losing weight and getting benefits as a result of losing weight

or whether it's actually coming from the intermittent fasting approach and I would probably argue it's more likely coming from people that are losing weight which is probably allowing for some health benefits associated with that in the first place and it's often from a dietetic perspective as well it would never be something that I would usually I think people need to be really careful of going into it because for someone that for example maybe has a background of disorder eating it just adds in another restriction there which at the end of the day is it

something that you're going to be able to do long term but just what we said before probably not so yeah what I've been doing this past week and again it's something I've seen on TikTok yeah um but I've been trying my best to not put the first thing that puts in my that I put in my body is coffee okay because that is something that I felt like I do do um instantly it's like I'm addicted to it and I know that's maybe a good or bad thing I don't know but I've been trying to have a green tea instead and then I'll have my coffee do you find there's any benefits to that I don't know if I feel like it's like I'm over thinking it and I feel better but sometimes I feel like coffee can maybe make me feel a bit clouded if it's the first thing I put in my body in the morning.

A bit heavy for the yeah like I'm dehydrated in the night and then I'm putting coffee in it like should I have like a pint of water or green tea or do you think it's fine to have a coffee first thing in the morning? Yeah I would say what I wouldn't do is using coffee as for example breakfast so a lot of people I would say do that which I think isn't what we should be doing if you're going to say it's the places of hunger don't they? Yeah which again we're just that's coming, feeding into that kind of disordered, you know, eating again. If that's what you're wanting to do, you should be honoured in your hunger cues there if it's there. So I wouldn't say it's necessarily a bad thing, though, if you're just enjoying having a coffee.

But often I would say is you are going to wake up probably dehydrated from not having anything, obviously, overnight. Yeah. That have a coffee and make sure you take some fluid. So one thing that I often speak to clients about is rehydrate before you caffeinate. You know, so trying to get some fluids, you know, into you first and then enjoy your coffee. So that's what I've been doing. And I do genuinely think it's making me feel better, but I don't know if it's just because I'm not telling myself that.

I'm like, is there any science behind it? But surely that must be better to put water into your body before you then put caffeine. Well, I think a lot of people think that caffeine dehydrates you, but it actually doesn't. It does have a mild diuretic effect. All that's a fancy word for it. It's just making you go to the loo a bit more often.

But I think some of the research is saying that compared to someone who, for example, was having a glass of water and maybe had coffee, the amount that it would maybe cause you to lose in comparison to one another is like 100 mil, so nothing significant.

So if you were to drink, for example, I don't know, a 300 mil coffee, it's still going to give you fluid. So it might allow you to get rid of a little bit more water in comparison to a glass of water,

for example, or another drink. But it doesn't dehydrate you. So I would say coffee and tea and stuff all contribute towards your fluid intake, which is great. I would just say,

most of the time, is that what makes up the majority of your intake? If it does, you maybe want to think about adding in something else. Yeah. And you think drinking water is so important, how much should we drink? This is one that I would always say is quite difficult to give recommendations on because

your fluid requirements are going to be very different to someone else's and that's depending on where you stay, how much you sweat, what your body weight is, well, how old you are, all those kind of things. A good guidance and I know that sounds daft, often I would say to people is look at the colour of your pee. And I know that it sounds really daft but...

No, it doesn't at all because you... If it's like part of orange like I'm dehydrated. So you want to always aim for a pale yellow straw colour of urine and that's that's true and if people do want a guidance often what I would say to people is what if they have their

body weight in kilograms times it by 25 times it by 35 and that would give you like a rough guidance so say you were 65 kilos times it by 25 times it by 35 and that gives you a rough estimate but again that's just an estimate if people are keen to know you're better off looking at the colour of your P to give you a bit more

guidance and the more you exercise the more sweat you're going to lose all that kind of thing so yeah yeah that makes sense because a lot of people say like two liters two liters I would say is a good aim say for like that average person and I would probably as well say that a lot of people aren't even hitting that um a lot of people I would say that I work with are lucky if they're hitting kind of later and a later and a half and that's people who are training as well so I think we only really are getting dehydrated where we are already dehydrated by the time we feel thirsty if that makes sense so we essentially don't really want to get to feel thirsty first if that makes sense yeah um so i think that's what we want to be thinking about as well is that we never really

want to get to that point but quite often if we were to go throughout our day to day we're more likely to probably pick something up to eat and that might actually i don't mean put away our thirst cues but we might not think about it just as much yeah and then before we know what we've got to the point of where we're like we're gasping for a drink and that's already got to the point where we're dehydrated which isn't what we yeah which isn't what we want so yeah right okay I just need to come in to suggest. Should we move on to weight? Yes.

The big topic. So can you explain to us what is a calorie deficit for those who don't know and should everyone be in one to lose weight? Okay. So a calorie deficit simply just means you eating less than what your body requires, if that makes sense. So if we were trying to maintain our weight, the amount of energy or calories that we consume from the food that we eat

must balance the amount that we expend day to day and that's not just from exercise, that's from even the energy that we sit or we use when we're sitting at rest potting about our day to day. So if we are wanting to lose weight, yes, a calorie deficit is the only way that you're essentially going to be able to lose body fat.

So I think there's so much kind of misconceptions out there about how we can lose weight and the kind of magic cure that would help to, or you know, a kind of quick fix again. It all comes down to a calorie deficit at the end of the day. We, I think if we can understand that and understand that it comes back to energy balance and things, a lot of people would be able to understand that when it comes to making dietary changes, they really don't need to do a lot to kind of make something or to kind of move the needle a bit when it comes to weight loss.

Which I think if anyone could take anything away from that, that's definitely what I would. Yeah. So yeah, a calorie deficit is kind of key to making fat loss happen. I've got a good question for you because I know there's a huge shift on social media in the recent years where, I feel like a lot of personal trainers or anyone online that's speaking about diet thankfully majority had the same sort of message where

calorie deficit has really become quite a thing and it's making more sense to people as before when I was younger it was like weight washers slimming world again they are all calorie deficit but people don't think it like that keto, paleo god you name it whatever those crazes at the time

but yeah what's your thoughts on like everyone keeping that sort of same message and there's arguments that there's a thousand calories in a big mac if i was to eat a thousand calories a day let's just say for arguments safe and i would have a thousand calories of a big mac but then a thousand calories of vegetables um does it matter basically am i going to lose weight do you know what i mean but i then know from a nutrition standpoint that i'm going to probably get more from the vegetables and the the chicken then i am a higher and saturated fat probably burger but people argue different.

So, yeah, at the end of the day, it's always going to come back down to a calorie deficit. So if your calorie requirements were 2,000 and you had 2,000 calories worth of chocolate or Big Macs or whatever it might be, if you compared that to someone that was having 2,000 calories on fruit and veggies or whatever, balanced diet, people would hopefully be losing the exact same amount,

assuming all other variables were equal, if that makes sense. So at the end of the day, it's always going to come down to a calorie deficit. But I think the really important point to, I guess, highlight on that is that if you were filling yourself up with more processed foods and foods that I guess maybe give you lots of calories, but in a small portion, and 2,000 calories you could maybe have, I don't know how much is in a Big Mac,

but three Big Macs. And you probably will not feel very satisfied for very long after it. That's true. And I think that's what often I would do with my own client to say to them about think about volume eating a little bit more, so where you can think about foods that give you, I guess maybe less calories, but in a much, sorry,

give you, you can eat more, sorry, within like a smaller portion if that makes sense and it gives you less calories. So it means within your calorie budget, if that's what you're working towards, you can eat far more and it will make you feel far more full as opposed to maybe just trying to have it on processed foods. Yeah, because it's like that analogy where they say, what's heavier, a thousand, a picture of like feathers.

In a box it's like a thousand ton of feathers or a thousand ton of bricks. Yeah. and the bricks is like that and the feathers is like that and it's the same it's like calories that's obviously going to fill you up

way way way more but the bricks for example is a lot smaller so I suppose it just makes so much sense when you think of it in that way and it sees actually been able to the kind of way that I'm working with clients now a lot of my clients are on

either a shift in body composition journey or a fat loss journey and it's one of the biggest things that they would say to me being like oh my God I can't believe you've told me that I can eat this amount of calories where, for example, certain popular calorie tracking apps have maybe told them to eat very little

or they've been told by someone else to strip their calories back to very, very little. And I think being able to give them the freedom to actually say, you know, what, you can eat this amount. You actually have really high requirements, even if you're on a fat loss journey, but you can fill that with so much food by just, for example, thinking about what you can add

into certain meals and snacks to make them more nourishing, to make them more filling. It will keep you going far longer and actually make you hopefully not crave certain foods maybe just as much, yep. because you feel really full and satisfied from building balance plates and snacks. Yeah, I feel like when I come home from,

if I came home from the office or something, and I'd come home and I'd be instantly starving. I'd cook my dinner, but I couldn't wait, possibly wait that 20 minutes. So I'd binge in the fridge and next minute, I'm like, I've just probably ate a thousand calories of snacks. Yeah. Because I wasn't fulfilled in previous meals possibly. So, definitely.

Wild. And that kind of leads us on nicer to the next one because if we're having, if you're on a fat loss journey and you're wanting to be in a calorie deficit making sure you are how do you recommend tracking that do we use the apps do we just get a feel for what's right yeah like how do we do that I would say it depends on the person I think what a lot of people aren't aware of just now is having a calorie

awareness a lot of people don't know where their calories come from which I think can make things much more difficult so for a lot of people that I would say that I work with if they are not triggered by calorie tracking, I would say it can be a really useful tool and strategy for someone to do for a short period of time, but it's not for everyone, so it has to be done with the right person. Another way it could be, for example, having, getting familiar with how we look at the back of food labels, look at the nutrition label and at the back of a food packet and getting used to what you actually are pushing out for yourself and seeing if that helps.

We could also, if someone is really against kind of tracking calories, more, get them used to kind of, again, that approach of what can you add into your diet? things here looking at maybe portion sizes with handy measures so like a portion size of protein is maybe about the size of your palm if you were looking like a piece of chicken for example and we could look at that way if people aren't keen to kind of calorie track but I would say that for the most part a lot of people should be getting a calorie awareness in some way to know where their calories are coming from I feel like it's so important to do that at some point in your life to really understand how much you are overeating or under eating because it's a shock

sometimes you're looking at you're like Jesus Christ and I think as well that a lot of people can you can eat all the healthy food in the world but if you're still going over what your calorie requirements are you're still going to gain weight and then you're like why am I gaining weight I'm eating so much good food you're like yeah be eating too much of it yeah that's that's definitely me honestly like

if I really knuckled down on the diet I think I'd be in unreal shape I do you are no I'm not but I mean like I could be because of the because of how I exercise but I just love my food too much but I also think that's where I often speak to clients about as well that again if a fat loss journey is something that someone wants to be on fine but I often say is it at the expense of a whole lot of living and I know that sounds a bit sad but I think both guys and girls have I think been through a lot over the last 10 20 years and things and I think every generation and her mum and dad's generation have been hit hard with like the diet industry for a long time but I think it's I hope that we're starting to kind of change the narrative a little bit I've actually realising that we're not just put on the earth to look a certain way.

Yeah, draining, isn't it? Uh-huh. And imagine getting to the point of where, it sounds a bit morbid, but if you're on your deathbed. And you're thinking, that didn't even matter. Uh-huh. And I've looked back and I've missed out on going out for dinners with pals, or my whole life was just consumed by what the number was on the scales or how I fitted into clothes. Don't get me wrong, nutrition, and, you know, I guess maybe body size and stuff does have an impact on your health. Absolutely.

There's a line there that I guess is. A longevity. Yeah. but no you are right we've said this didn't we last week there's so much more to life and when you're starting to lose people around you and you sit there and you think all this stuff that we worry about day to day really doesn't matter yeah as long as if we've got people that love us and we do things that make us happy really doesn't matter what size our genes are yeah people won't love us any less yeah that experience won't be any more fun yeah yeah maybe

you'd feel more confident but you're never happy anyway so no It's funny, I feel. I've worked with lots of clients as well that have said that 10 years ago, for example, they would look back at pictures and say, you know, I looked great at that, but they didn't feel good at that time. That's what we were saying, how sad is that? And even on your funeral, or on your, like, gravestone, is it going to say, she was remembered because she had abs. Do you know, you're not? And it's just so sad. Do you ever have abs, though? I'm sorry. I'm sorry, go against it all, but fucking put that at my gravestone. It's been a hard journey to get there, so I want it documented. forever you got them caught into the gravestown exactly a few people also ask that when they're really trying exercise and tracking their calories they are in a calorie deficit or I suppose they are but they're not seeing any changes is that probably because they're maybe not in the right deficit or is there other factors that can thyroid or something like that I mean there could be

you know there could be other factors at play but I would say that the majority of the time if you have not get any other associated health conditions and things. If your weight isn't shifting, you're not in a calorie deficit usually. And it comes back to how honest are you when you're tracking things? How honest are you when you, if we're talking about calorie tracking apps, it's quite easy to be like, oh, my slice or my sandwich that I've had for lunchtime there, there's a couple of different options. I'll choose the lower calorie option here and how honestly you've been with it.

So I would say most of the time it's that they're getting their energy balance kind of or their calorie requirements not right. Yeah, and see if you're, see to work out your maintenance calories so that you know what your deficit should be without speaking to someone like you or a PT or whatever. Is there, how can you work that out? There's loads of calorie calculators online, which is good. And are they quite accurate then?

Most of the time, they're always going to, for example, if I'm working with a client, I would usually do a bunch of different equations and kind of almost work out a bit of an average because every equation, they're all estimates at the end of the day. All we input is all estimates if we're putting stuff into. calories tracks. So that's the thing to keep in mind as well. It's not an exact science. So I think as long as you're probably going on to like a reputable site. So there's loads of dietitians actually I think out there that have their websites that will have calorie

calculators and stuff on it as well, which is good. So I think making sure that it's hopefully taken into account your gender, your age, your activity level day to day of how much you, for example, are up and about walking, what your exercise is throughout the week. See if it kind ticks all those boxes and you're inputting that information into a calorie calculator I would say most of the time hopefully it's fairly accurate. Isn't it true that on food packets that they can have like a 20% fluctuation above or below? Yeah so I think they have to be within a certain amount of accuracy when they don't know 20% I'm just making it up. I don't actually know how much it is but I would say that there's there is definitely a bit of an inaccuracy with it and it's

the same with um for example the way we digest food we won't necessarily absorb all the calories from as well. So this is where it kind of gets a bit of an estimate again. So for example, looking at corn is always a good example. When you eat corn, you go to the toilet the next day. It's corn. It's corn. It's corn. Corn is there. So you're not actually digesting it. So you digest some of it. But yeah, so the calories that you are essentially consuming won't always necessarily always be absorbed. But I wouldn't say that should put someone off calorie tracking because again, it's all estimates for the most part. What you're putting in if you're being honest about the portion size you're putting in will give you

a really good basis to work from. Yeah. And what about when you're tracking? I've heard and seen a few things of people saying you don't need to track fruit and veg. Do we or do we not? You do. So I would say in comparison for fruit and veggies you're probably going to get slightly more calories for a piece of fruit than vegetables. Yeah. I would say if you're going to bother

tracking, track everything. Because if you for example have, I don't know, say six pieces of fruit or something a day roughly an apple is maybe going to give you anything between 80 to 100 calories or something like that if you're having six portions of that and that could take you easily without your out with your deficit and that's another good point to kind of make as well

is that if you're putting yourself into a deficit and putting something, you're getting your calories from your calculator that you've put it in if you're getting told to have anything that's maybe 400 to 600 calories less than what your maintenance should be I would argue that that's probably going too low 400 to 600 calories or a kind of 10 to 20

to percent deficit from what your maintenance is is quite a, I guess maybe a sustainable approach to it that hopefully you won't feel ravenous on it that you want to eat your own arm. Yeah, so if my maintenance say it's 2,000 anything between maybe like 1,700, 1,800's a good

So I would do, it could be so roughly I would say, so say for example it was 2,000, I would say you want to take off anything between 400 to 600 to 600 from that so that you could go down to for example 1,600 or 1,400 and you know, kind of go in for a bit of a sweet spot. spot there. Anything more than

that, you're probably going to run the risk of hormonal issues because you're not eating enough to kind of just sustain life and you're probably going to feel like shit on it as well. And is it true that 3,500 calories equals one pound of fat? So I always work in kilos. Oh, do you? Yeah. So

about a kilo of fat is about 7,700 calories. So yeah, pounds always get mixed up in. So yeah, if you think about that as well, that's a lot of calories. So say when people's weight shift, for example, if they step on the scales one morning and then you step on the McGill at night or they see

a big increase in it. You know, it's exactly the same. It's not fat gain that you've had in that short period of time. It could be whether you have had more food. It could be whether you've strength trained because when we strength train and we use our muscles we get kind of micro tears on our muscles that

draws in water. A hench. Yeah, that's it. Bumped up. So all of these things affect it. So if anyone sees any big shifts, it's probably because of other factors as opposed to fucking yeah yeah interesting right right so next topic is protein I fight with protein every day I'll just tell you that right now you do don't yeah I don't want to believe that you need a lot of protein in your diet but you can tell

my otherwise so is it essential yes to what extent for example when you follow these macro things which is your protein fats and carbs mainly and it's always like a lot of grams like I would say when I've looked at mine it's say 140 grams of protein so I'm trying to make that up with like bars, shakes, yogurts, everything I just need your overall thoughts

and that. Probably I would say the amount that you've just said there probably sounds about accurate even though I've obviously not sat and worked them out so I'm sorry I hate to tell you but roughly for someone who maybe does some strength training throughout the week and who wants to I guess also being on a fat loss journey you want to be able to make sure that your protein is within a certain range

to make sure that when you are if we take fat loss for example when you're trying to lose weight we can't decide whether the fat or the weight loss that we lose comes from lean mass or whether it comes from fat mass so we want to minimise the amount

obviously coming from our lean mass as much as possible and the two main ways that you can do that is making sure that you eat enough protein so getting within a range that I'll say in a wee minute or making sure that you do regular strength training they're the two things that kind of build

or maintain muscle so for most people I would say 1.6 to 2.2 grams per kilo is a really good shout So again, if you were 65 kilos times it by 1.6 times it by 2.2, and that should roughly give you a good guidance of amount of protein to kind of hit per day. It doesn't need to be exact.

It's not meant to be like that every single day, but it's a good aim to get to. So a lot of the times for most people, about that kind of 150 mark, can be quite a good target to try and hit. And I think for someone that's maybe not tracked protein or anything before, that can sound really overwhelming. And you think, oh, am I going to be able to do 150, 150 grams?

but it's sometimes just again bringing a bit more awareness to your meals and snacks as an opportunity a lot of people freak out and think I shouldn't be having snacks that's going to make me gain weight but actually it's another opportunity to add nutrients in and hopefully make sure that you're not overconsuming calories by going for really long stretches in between your meals as well yeah so most of the time it's thinking at every meal or snack making sure that there's a source of protein in there somewhere whether it's coming from animal sources whether it's dairy where you need to consider maybe a supplement in things as well but I often think try and focus on a food first

and use supplements there as a kind of icing on the cake if required. Yeah, so we're not against like protein bars or anything like that. It's just maybe doing a more natural way. Yeah, I would say food first is always going to be the best way because you're going to get far more nutrients from it as well if you're able to get it from a kind of source of food first. Protein supplements or protein shakes are essentially just, if we're talking about whey protein, for example,

they're essentially just whittled down milk powder that you can use to kind of help meet your requirements. If you, they're really good from, I guess, maybe a time and a convenience point of view. Or if you're really struggling to kind of hit that higher needs. But I would say to people, if you're needing kind of any more than two protein shakes a day, you probably need to have a bit of a look at what your intake is like from a food point of view. You probably need to think about where can you get other sources added in. That just screams like farts to me.

Doesn't it too protein trumps when guys from the gym and then you're like, oh my God, what the fuck? Because that's the thing I would say, after a protein bar, I don't feel good. No, I don't. I don't. I don't. Like it's heavy. I would say protein bars, again, they've got their place, but I would, I preferably would encourage people to try and think about what can be added to that as a snack to make it a bit

more nourishing. So if it's just a convenient option that you've needed and you can pick it up and go, fine, but try and see if you can add something else alongside it, a piece of fruit or something. Yeah. Can you tell us if any of our listeners are vegan or vegetarian, what can they do to add more protein to the diet because they find it quite difficult? Yeah, so vegetarian and vegan people are always going to find it probably a bit more challenging. Animal-based sources are going to give you more protein per gram.

So a lot of people who are vegetarian and vegan and are going on a calorie deficit, for example, will usually find it a bit more challenging to stick within their calories. Because, for example, comparing a piece of chicken to, I don't know, a portion size of lentils, chickpeas or something like that, pretty much a portion of chicken is just going to give you protein, if that makes sense. It doesn't really give you any other kind of macronutrients, if that makes sense from the most part, even at simple terms. But if you were to look at chickpeas or lentils, for example,

you get some carbohydrates along with that as well. So the protein content of it goes down. So the main thing that I would say that they need to think about is just getting savvy with, similar to what I've just said, making sure that each of their meals and snacks, they're including a source of protein in some way. The other thing that they need to be really careful of is making sure that they're including a variety where possible.

So have you heard of amino acids and things? So amino acids are the building blocks of protein. When we consume animal-based products, we get essential amino acids that our body can't produce itself. Plant-based proteins tend to be short of essential amino or some of the essential amino acids. But the way that you can get around that is just making sure that you include a variety of plant-based protein sources. So making sure you include beans, pulses, lentils, all of that kind of side of things to make sure that you get a big variety. It might get to the point where a vegan or a vegetarian potentially might have to think about a protein supplement

as a nice addition if they are really struggling to hit it but I would say it's definitely not impossible to still hit a higher protein goal when you're on a pump-based diet. I do think eating a vegan diet or vegetarian diet definitely comes down to being more prepared and because you could eat vegan and eat a terrible diet. You can eat bread, chips and that's it. You would never prepare and make yourself a really big salad

with all of the pulses, lentils and whatnot. So I do think it takes a bit more preparation to have like a really healthy vegan vegetarian diet, doesn't it? I think as well it's where we had come into a lot of difficulties when veganry became like a really big thing. A lot of people just thought it was the better way to eat from a health point of view, potentially from a weight loss point of view as well. But it shouldn't be taken lightly.

It's definitely something that I would say that you need to do your own bit of kind of research into as much as you can to make sure that you're getting all the nutrients you need and you're not excluding a full food group and thinking about what you're missing out on. yeah so see just we've got the two we've got two calorie deficit people right yeah one is just eating anything but within that calories not a lot of protein okay one's eating all the right things with protein are we seeing a weight loss difference there if your calories are equal no no still yeah so if calories are equal between the two um from an energy balance point of view as well weight loss should essentially be the same. But from a body composition point of view, if you're

eating hopefully enough protein, it means that you're more likely going to maintain your muscle mass, which again... So it's kind of like losing it in the right places. Yeah. When you tear the muscles, they only build when you eat protein, is that right? Yeah. Yeah. After you've been to the gym, you're tearing the muscles and then... So it's more about protein, it's sort of tone up. Yeah. But also, protein is quite filling as well, isn't it? So proteins, it's the same with fiber, for example, protein and fiber are really satiating nutrients that we call them. So that's why I often and say to people, make sure that you have a source of protein, definitely at each of your meals, but probably at your snacks as well,

one to hit higher protein goals, but also to keep you fuller for longer. So it's really going to help from a weight loss point of view to make sure that the weight that you are losing is hopefully coming from fat mass and minimizing the amount that comes from lean mass as much as possible. I think that's the first time I've fully understood that, by and then. So congratulations, because I've been on a long journey with that. I think it's just because when you know you've got that goal,

that's sort of like the pressure to meet that. and then when you don't I've kind of felt like does that mean I won't see results then with the protein specifically but it's just good to know that yeah you still will but it's just a better way of doing it yeah it's having a higher protein diet and you'll probably feel much fuller yeah like Jess was just saying you'll feel much fuller but you definitely do yeah yeah yeah right next up supplements this is quite interesting one should everyone be taking supplements daily no it depends on what it is So again, it comes down to like an individual basis.

In the UK, for the most part, generally speaking, we're allowed to say that everyone should be thinking about taking a vitamin D supplement during the autumn and winter months. Yeah, especially in Scotland. Especially in Scotland. As well, came crawling out the dark in things just now. But yeah, definitely during the autumn and winter months, we largely get the amount of vitamin D that we need from the sun.

We get some from our foods, but probably not enough. So vitamin D is kind of the main one. Otherwise, the other one that I would say that a lot of people do potentially need to consider is if they are not taking oily food, fish within their diet or making sure that they get enough plant-based sources of it and omega-3 supplement potentially is something to consider we're not really at the point where we can make general recommendations on that like the way we do with vitamin D now but omega-3 I would say tends to be the one that a lot of people don't eat a lot of oily fish

that that usually tends to be the other one that is worth potentially considering yeah I eat quite a bit of fish yeah yeah healthy heart healthy brain there I hope so a bit of fish me yeah so in general then a lot of people are taking like vitamin supplements loads of different things, is that a bit of a bad, a trend? Yes, I would say so. So I think some of them have their place. If someone's diet, for example, was shockingly poor in nutrients coming from foods, I would say that someone might benefit from considering taking a multivitamin.

If the dietary intake of nutrients is poor, where I probably have concerns, though, is if your diet actually isn't that bad and you're consuming a variety of things, A lot of people are taking multivitamins on top of what they're already having. So there's certain vitamins that we can we get rid of in our body through like peeing out, for example. But there's other vitamins that are called fat soluble vitamins that if we take too much of them, we'll store them, which can run the risk of having toxicity, you know, from certain vitamins and minerals. So I think that's the issue that I probably have with it sometimes. And I think people just think, I'll take a multivitamin.

It'll be fine. It'll cure all my. But the reason that we need to get nutrients from food from the most part is to make sure that we're getting other nutrients alongside it as it goes to just taking something in one tablet form. Definitely. I'd be really interested to ask you this because I know you know, but I take green powders every day without fail.

And I also take magnesium. Start getting a nervous twitchy. No, I'm really interested in hearing your opinion on this totally. And I take magnesium. I feel like that's completely changed, lots of things for me. Collagen. And I take collagen. I've been taking collagen for years.

And I definitely feel like that's one of those. is where I feel like that's hard to say how I feel, but I do feel like my skin's being good. I feel quite youthful. I don't know. Maybe it is helping. It's one of those things where I feel like I'm never going to stop taking it because I think it works.

Keying to know your thoughts on green powders. I know a lot of people are against them. But for me, I got to a point where I was so ill and I do think I eat a good balanced nutritional diet. I do think I love vegetables. I'm not someone where I don't eat greens or anything. But when I started taking. those with magnesium.

I think it was iron at the start. I did feel so much better. But I'm really keen to know what your thoughts are on them because I know that there's a lot of people online that just promote these green powders that are getting paid for them. I'm not, I'm a customer.

So if I stop taking them, do you think it's a load of nonsense? I would say for the most part just now the way it is on social media, I would say most of it is a kind of marketing side of things the majority of the times. I think if you all that they're essentially going to give you

is kind of nutrients but in a kind of maybe maybe I shouldn't say this but a bit of a discussing form they're surely not nice to drink I've never tried but they're not obviously the most pleasant thing to drink but the reason that we encourage for example everyone has heard about the five portions of fruit and veg a day which is actually set as a kind of

minimum that we should be hitting in the UK ideally we should be eating more than that if we could that if we're just trying to take it in a supplement drink form we're taking out a lot of the fibre that tends to come with it as well which is another huge reason that we should be taken lots of fruit and veggies. So that's probably the first thing that I would say that I have a concern of people just opting for that without thinking, you know, what actually can I add in here again from a nutrient perspective from fruit and veg. I would say if it's not,

it's not really essentially going to do any harm. The issue, the other thing, though, that when it comes to supplements is the supplement industry isn't regulated. So someone could easily be making supplements in their kitchen, chucking them on Amazon and they're not a ha. Which is, I think, a big concern from a supplement point of view. and where from if I'm working for example with an athlete I would always usually say to them make sure that you check the batch number on Informed Sports

a website that you can check that it's been batch tested at least it doesn't maybe take out all risk but it's something that you can consider doing it's just there could be risk of contamination they're just not regulated in any way that they could have other crap in it that you just don't know about so that's from a supplement point of view

the other kind of concern but I would say going back to the green powders I wouldn't generally recommend them I would say food first if you can the most that's going to give you some nutrients but it's not going to give you the full I guess maybe benefits that having just a piece of fruit and veg and stuff would do well and I think that's just common sense isn't it I mean I know that but I don't know if it's just something that I take

and I genuinely do feel better because of it but I would be terrified to stop doing it now because I have honestly it was awful I was ill all the time wasn't I like season 1 or 2 I just was bummed up unbearable and I don't know if it was just the thing from coaching but it was and I thought I'm actually a generally quite healthy person why is this happening to me I'm also keen to know your thoughts in a sport sports standpoint of creatine and electrolytes yep because Richard takes creatine and I've been

starting to take electrolytes because I've been running a lot yep what your thoughts so creatine is definitely one that I would so there's a certain amount of sports supplements that I would say that have fairly good evidence behind them creatine as one of them should I be taking that yes definitely really yeah 100 How do I like that then? Is that not the one that's like caffeine? So creatine works in a way almost kind of helping you to produce more energy

at kind of like a cellular level if that makes sense. So it can really help with, for example, strength training, power output, different things like that. So for the majority of people who are doing strength training, I would say it's something that's really good to add in. What brand should I use? Again, it depends. Always gone and just check in form sport, I would say, is a good shout.

There's loads of different ones out there. But creatine monohydrate is the one that I would say has the big. evidence. Creatine monohydrate. It's just the type of creatine that's out there. A lot of people ask whether they should be doing

there's a loading phase that you can do with it. I would say unless you're training for something, you don't need to. It's just how quickly your muscle gets saturated with creatine. That's all. Right, I'm on that then.

So five grams a day and you're sorted. Okay, perfect. And electrolytes? Electrolites, I would say it depends. So it comes down to maybe how much you feel that you sweat and things as well.

So I would say if you're largely well hydrated throughout the rest of the day, you potentially and you eat well sorry as well throughout the rest of the day you're refueling appropriately after your meals you might not necessarily need electrolytes if you're doing a really long kind of high intensity session where your sweat losses are quite high yeah I would say again electrolytes aren't really going to do you any harm and will help to replace the electrolytes that you've lost during sweat because electrolytes for anyone that doesn't know are just

basically salts aren't they so if you think about it when you it sounds about mingin but when you sweat you can obviously taste the salt from it and that's just because you are getting rid of the the kind of minerals that are obviously floating around your body and things when you're... So I'm going to just sort of sprinkle some mould and something in my water. Well, you can make... You can actually make them at home yourself by adding some sugar and salt with a bit of water and dilutting juice rather than you can make your own electric drink. That'll save you some cash right, yeah.

And what about just a few random questions now? Dairy alternatives. Dairy alternatives. Oatmills, soy. Oatmelt, etc. A lot of bad shit on lie about it, Bill. Thoughts on that. So first things first that I would say when it comes.

to people making dairy alternative as a choice to have, I would say it's almost, it comes back to the idea of people maybe going plant-based and things before. If you decide to go plant-based, that's absolutely fine if you decide to do that, but it comes down to making sure that you have done your research a little bit first.

So where we've seen issues in clinic a lot recently is that a lot of people who have decided to switch from maybe dairy-based milks to plant-based milks are having issues with not getting enough calcium in their diet, which means they're having issues with their bone health. so dairy or calcium fortified alternative are a food group of their own so if you think about completely excluding dairy products and you're not making sure that

your oat milk or your soy milk are fortified with calcium you're running the risk of being deficient in calcium so having issues with bones and muscle health and things like that which isn't what you want so I would say if someone's want to make that switch and you prefer it that's absolutely fine just make sure you check the the label of whatever you're buying that it's fortified with calcium is fine um if you're deciding to I know a lot of people have this issue about oat milk maybe having higher amounts of you know different fats in it they're inflammatory and all those kind of side of things and you need to make sure that you are again getting your research from the right place there is

nothing wrong with taking oat milk at all and there's no weird and wonderful things in it that you need to worry about and some of the fats that are in it are absolutely fine to be having. Thank you for all hell oat milk I love oat milk I have it all the time and I try to ignore everything online so I genuinely enjoy the taste of it so I'm sure literally when I'm sitting there vaping in the weekends and chugging, flipping alcohol down my neck. I'm sure a bit of milk and my coffee

is not going to do me any harm. Well, that is connected. By the way, I've stopped vaping now. Thank God for that. That phase is over. Thank God. Last question, because I just think this covers quite a lot of people's concerns, is there any key signs

that show you have maybe like gut issues or like IBS or that sort of thing that aren't just, because like, I think I've got everything to exist. talk about the gut, I think the gut is the most important thing. So just, is there any, just like a quick sort of five things that could show this? If that's easy, if that's posse.

So I think when it comes to gut health, your gut health is essentially, you know, anything that could kind of happen from your mouth down, if that makes sense. A lot of times that people are having issues tend to be with things like bloating, diarrhea, not going to the toilet often enough, usually tend to be the biggest triggers for people. So I would say if that is happening on a regular basis, it's where you probably need to have someone have a look at what your diet you intake is like and see if there's certain triggers.

Stan can be another one I would say but most of the time from a what I'd like to say is your gut is almost like another immune barrier there it's another amazing organ that we have that actually plays a huge role in our health so I think if you're finding that other things are coming out in other ways

for example skin health or whatever else there are things that we could potentially be looking at from a diet point of view that could help I think the tricky thing is that there's a lot of again misinformation gut health if as soon as it's plastered on to anything just now people are often caught up in it because it's quite a buzzword at the minute of gut health

when actually a lot of the time people just need to take it back to basics quite a lot and actually making sure that they're one drinking enough water or enough fluid in general making sure that what their stress is like so there's something called the gut brain axis so you imagine for example going to

an interview and feeling uptight and anxious about it we might have to run to the law for example that's because there's a connection there between how we feel brain-wise and what's going on in our gut. Interesting. So when it comes to IBS on irritable bowel syndrome, that's often one of the things that needs to get looked at first before people go in, I don't know if you've heard of,

at the low FODMAP diet. So people are often just chucked on that straight away when actually there's a lot of other lifestyle things that need to be looked at first and kind of meaning potentially just minor tweaks to their diet before going on quite a restrictive low FodMap diet that should only be done for four to six weeks, I believe, before you then come off it.

It shouldn't be something that's done long term. So I would say if it's something that's happening often, speak to someone about it and see. Perfect. Well, thank you so much. Thank you so much. That was amazing. I wish you could stay on for longer.

And also, thanks so much for having me. But that was a pleasure. A quick one. So if anyone wants to get in touch with you about having a one-to-one or just picking your brains about diet, how can they contact you? Sure. So I'm mainly on Instagram at Kerry Major underscore dietitian.

That's mainly where I'm. You can also find me on TikTok and things as well. I've got a website where you can just apply to a kind of a one-to-one coaching. People that are not based in Glasgow and Scotland can also work with you. Yeah, so I offer online coaching from a nutrition point of view and a personal training point of view as well. Amazing. Well, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I hope that was helpful to everyone listening. Yes, we hope. And have a gorgeous rest of the week and we will see you on Friday's episode. Bye, guys.