Elizabeth Pattalis Nutritionist

Personal Trainer - Pilates Mat & Reformer - Whole Life

The Body’s Natural Cycle – The Moon & Menstrual Cycle

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menstrual cycle lunar phases
 
A women’s menstrual cycle is about the same length as a lunar cycle, around 28 – 29 days. In being in sync with the moon, the light of the full moon triggers ovulation and women would bleed at a new moon.
 
However in the western world today, we have somewhat lost our connection as women to both nature and the moon. We live in a man’s world.
 
Traditionally in many cultures, the moon holds sacred significance to the goddess and the female. Going back into time people lived in the open, amongst the trees, the stars, and the ocean. Today’s culture has become detached from this natural way of living, it has become very much artificial and at a cost to our health.

 

Menstrual Cycle

A woman’s cycle can be thoughts of as two phases:
  • The follicular phase – day 1 (first day of bleeding) to day 14 (ovulation).
  • The luteal phase – day 15 to day 28 (until next bleed).
If we track a woman’s mood, it can be further broken down, into four phases. If we work with these four phases, we can move with the cycles of the moon.
 

Moving With The Moon Phases

  • Phase 1 – dark moon or no moon – menstrual phase:
    • With no moon and the shedding of the uterus, ie, the bleeding, energy is low. It is natural to want to retreat and stay indoors. It represents winter. The body wants more sleep at this time.
    • This is the time to reflect, to go within. Reflect on the last month and let go of what isn’t serving you.
    • It is about physically cleansing, bleeding, and purging emotionally.
    • To honor this time, spend time alone, don’t plan any events to fall at this time, rest. You may ask your partner to take care of some of the chores, and de-load your workload at this time.
  • Phase 2 – waxing moon – pre-ovulation phase:
    • This is after menstruation has finished and is the lead up to ovulation, spring.  Energy is building up as hormones are rising.
    • The focus now is outward, you are driven, productive and focused.
    • This time is a good period to get onto any challenging work, the ‘big tasks’.
    • With exercise, you may want to go a bit harder, aim for the personal bests at this time.
  • Phase 3 – full moon – ovulation:
    • This is when a woman is fertile. With the full moon, it is summer, energy is high, and it is bright.
    • Energy is still outward but there are more nurturing elements. The time to do any big cleans may be now.
    • This time is about connecting to others, developing relationships and nurturing current relationships. It’s a great time to make a date, or treat yourself to something indulgent like a massage.
  • Phase 4 – waning moon – premenstrual phase:
    • This is when physical and emotional energy starts to decline, the autumn. Energy starts to shift inwards again as the moonlight becomes dark and empty.
    • Creativity can be higher as well as intuition. Perhaps if you have been sitting on the fence on something, now is the time to tune into what you need to do.
    • This is the time for less logical work and more creativity. It’s a time for self-care, to relax, let emotions calm, read a book and have a long bath.
    • With exercise, you may want to opt for gentle yoga practices and leave the high-intensity training to the led up to ovulation.
If you start to become aware of the phases, you can work with it rather than against it. There are positives to every phase.
 
Being in sync with nature is healing to both the body and mind. It is hard today as we do live in a world where a woman is on the go every day. Life seems to support a man in many ways. But it isn’t to say it isn’t possible to make it work for you. Tell your partner what the phases are so then he won’t go planning his boys night on day 1 and expect you to prepare the food. If you have a personal trainer, tell them too, they can plan your harder sessions at ovulation and de-load you at menstruation or the lead-up. If you are doing a diet where you need to take a break, to break a plateau, then have that break at phase 4 when willpower is lowest.
 
If you are having difficulties with a regular cycle and not sure where to start, you may find this article useful on seed cycling. It can help restore a cycle. Alternatively please get in touch for a consultation. 
 
Trust the body’s wisdom. It knows everything you need to know.

 

How To Create Effortless Healthy Habits

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A lot of our daily actions are automatic. Your brain likes autopilot. It requires less energy. For better or for worse, our habits shape us.
 
The more you do an action, the more you strengthen the pathway, “neurons that fire together, wire together”.
 
What are your automatic habits? Some examples could be: taking the same route to work each day, oats for breakfast, brushing your teeth morning and night, going for a walk every day at 6 am, making your bed as soon as I get up. These things require zero debate. There is no willpower involved.You can then apply this further, for example, if I go to the supermarket, I don’t walk down the biscuit aisle. I don’t eat biscuits, I eat healthy fresh food. I don’t decide what take out to eat for lunch, I know because I always pack a lunch box.
Again, there is no decision, it is what one does.
 
Do something enough and you don’t need discipline.
 
To change a habit, a bad one to a better one, it is hard. It requires brain energy. It also requires you to stick with it long enough so that you can strengthen those pathways, your brain will want to go back to what it knows it can do easily.
 
This is why we often fail, it is too hard. But isn’t it easier to do it right now, than to give up and try again later?
 
So, I ask you, what can you do to improve your current situation? What bad habits do you need to get rid of? Then commit to it, make the decision and commit. How do you do that? Replace it with a different better habit. For example, if you drink wine every night, change it to a tea. The second thing is, you need to reward yourself. Positive reinforcement is super important. It releases dopamine in your brain, and when you release dopamine, your brain wants it again. It will start to want tea. Give yourself some guidelines, eg you’ll have wine at most one night per week, and when you achieve that for two weeks you will reward yourself by getting a massage. Don’t neglect the reward part.Have a plan made in advance. Eg, such as packing your lunch before the work day starts. Or if you must buy your lunch, know what you are buying before you get to the food court.

Accountability is also important. Tell people and write down your new goals. Both are important. Reflect on the goals every morning, feed your mind with good thoughts so set yourself up for the day. When it comes to weight loss, how many times have you tried and not gotten anywhere? How about doing it right this time and then you don’t have to keep wasting energy retrying and worrying about food and your weight?
 
Almost all of us think too much. It is tiring. We worry we worry about the fact we over worry. We can’t get out of our heads, it’s no wonder we can sometimes just give in and then binge eat at night mindlessly. Our minds are exhausted.
 
Give your mind a break, a mind vacation. Do things to calm and be present more. Exercise is probably one of the best things for that. Consider Pilates or Yoga. In Pilates, you focus on the muscles, and your breathing. It is highly therapeutic, quieting the mind.
 
Consistency is what will help you get better. You need to do something often enough.  It also needs to be simple which is why you need a strategy and accountability. You may fail, and you need to have that person to get you going again. With anything in life, the start is the hardest, but once you get momentum it is much easier. Once you have momentum, you can’t stop! It’s like pushing a heavy load in a will borrow, when you first push it is super hard, but once it is rolling, easier :)

31 DAYS OF WELLNESS

Little things you can do each day for better health.

For the month of August, Elizabeth has created a series of 31 daily tips to help you focus on the little things each day that contribute to better health.

The tips are created to help you live a healthier, happier and more energised life.

Each morning open up your email and you’ll find an email with your health advice for the day. It’s as easy as that.

It’s free, all you need to do is register.

https://www.elizabethpattalis.com/31daysofwellness/

Why Your Mind Matter – The Placebo Effect on Body Weight

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I love the concept of the placebo effect. I don’t care if you give a person a placebo pill and their symptoms get better. If it works, it works! The placebo effect is a reminder of the power of the mind. Miss treating your mind and you miss an important element of your health. 

Your weight and health is not simply dictated by what you eat, but also what you think. Hand me a plate of pasta with a Mediterranean vegetable sauce and I am in heaven. However, another person may receive this same plate of food and see high carbs and weight gain. I would metabolise this dish with ease, enjoying each mouthful, absorbing the nutrients fully and burning calories efficiently. Once I finish the dish I probably won’t think about it again. The other person would eat it with anxiety and stress. He/she would probably feel guilt afterward and subsequently bring more stress to their next meal.

When your body is stressed a few things happen. The body thinks it is in fight or flight mode, survival mode. Blood flow goes to the limbs and away from the digestive system. For all the body knows it is preparing to run away from a lion. And who needs their digestive system to be functioning when under attack from a predator? This can leave you not absorbing your nutrients, experiencing diarrhea/constipation and holding onto fat around that stomach area. 

Our unique thoughts are just important as the nutrient value of the food we are eating. The brain does not the difference between an imaginary stressor or a real one. How many times have you thought about a stressful event in the past, and then your heart rate increases, you feel knots in your stomach and you may even tear up. Your thoughts are powerful and can change how your body is in the now!

You can eat the healthiest of meals but if you are eating with stress, believing you are fat and hating life, then you are going to cause havoc on your digestion system and your body’s fat storage will go up. Think toxic thoughts and it will be toxic to your meal.

There are numerous studies whereby the placebo effect illustrates the power of the mind. Patient’s symptoms and conditions have been shown to improve whilst on the sugar pill/placebo.  Sometimes the placebo groups even report better results than the group taking the real medication (1). When studies are conducted, participants get told about the side effects such as weight gain, hair loss, erectile dysfunction, headaches, and whatever else related to the medication being tested. People on the placebo pills have been known to pull out due to unbearable side effects! There have also been cases whereby people have thought they were getting back surgery but in reality, did not have the procedure. Yet they came out feeling their pain had subsided (2).

Mind over matter!

So next time you eat your plate of food with disgust thinking ‘this rice is going to make me fat and bloated’, consider the idea that you are instigating these effects. 

Appreciate your food and body where it is at now. Slow down. Chew thoroughly. Taste your food. Enjoy it! 

Affirm to yourself,

‘My happy thoughts create my healthy body’.

When I work with my clients, I work on the mind too. If any of the above resonates with you and you are feeling stuck in a cycle of bad thoughts and ill health, get in touch. I would love to help!

 

Surviving Chocolate Over Easter

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 surviving easterEaster eggs and hot cross buns have been in the supermarkets since Christmas. It’s crazy! There is always an occasion or excuse for us to overeat it seems these days. If it isn’t Easter, it is a birthday, or a work function, or a wedding, or a holiday, there is always something…. if you let there be.

There is nothing wrong with eating some festive treats. It is okay to eat treats at any time. You never need to justify why you are eating something and if you are, perhaps there is a reason for that. Do you feel guilty, anxious, deprived, judged? If we live a life whereby nothing is off limits and we eat what we love and feels good, occasions don’t matter. It’s easy to pass the chocolate aisle or skip the dessert without temptation. 

So this Easter, remember that chocolate is available all year. Easter is one day. There will always be more food so just breathe and be without food angst. Choose chocolate you love to eat only. Don’t feel you have to eat anything. If you receive chocolate and don’t want it, give it away. It’s your body and there is nothing unsociable with saying no. If you want the chocolate, eat it, savor it, and just get on with life. You don’t need to work off the chocolate you ate.

A few tips for keeping happy and healthy over Easter:

  • Choose quality over quantity. Often all we need is a taste. You’ll probably find eating half a piece and leaving the rest to be more satisfying than having the entire thing. Get your fix and don’t overindulge.
  • Freeze hot cross buns. If you buy a 6 pack, you don’t need to eat them all. Eat one and freeze the rest for another time. One hot cross bun is on average 300 calories. And then you will probably add some butter. This is similar in calories to a meal. 
  • For most people, it is better to eat one large Easter egg rather than little ones. People who buy the packs of little ones tend to not psychologically register how much they are consuming. Each trip to the pantry ends up with another little egg. A packet of little eggs is about 800 calories. If you can eat just the one great, but for a lot of us we can’t stop. It could be better to just buy the big one. A 110 gram Kinder Easter Bunny, or a Cadbury 110 grams Crunchie egg is about 600. Know how your eating habits and choose what is best for you.
  • Get rid of it. If you have too much take it to work and share it around. Or, put it in the bin. I do hate food wastage but better in the bin than in your gut. 
  • For a lot of us, Easter is a 4-day long weekend. Use it. Get active, relax and enjoy life. We live in a world whereby everyone is stressed and busy. Just breathe and be :) 

It can be hard to get to a place whereby food doesn’t rule your life but it can be done. If you’d like to chat and see if I can help you feel more at peace with food, eating and body image please contact me.  

 

Is Brain Inflammation the Cause of Your Depressed Mood?

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brain inflammation

Inflammation serves a person. It is your body’s first line of defense against infection and injury. In a healthy response, this process normally shuts down once healing occurs. Inflammation is a problem when the process gets stuck on and does not switch off. It can cause the body to attack healthy cells and tissues. This can be called chronic or systemic inflammation. 

Inflammation can present itself in different ways. In some people, it may be arthritis, diabetes, cardiovascular disease. In some, it can cause inflammation in the brain. Inflammation shuts down energy production in brain cells, causing mental fatigue and slowing down the firing of neurons.

We have all been sick with the cold right? How did you feel? I’m guessing you felt pretty lousy, tired, uninterested in being social, lacked motivation, maybe lost your appetite and your body may have ached. Speak to a depressed person and these are likely to be similar to how they are feeling. Therefore you may now appreciate how depression may be a symptom of an inflamed brain. This is called the cytokine model of depression (1). 

It is common knowledge that modern medicine treats depression or mood disorders with antidepressants. This assumes that there is more of a chemical imbalance problem going on. This may not always be the case and may not be the root cause of the problem. 

What can trigger the brain to become inflamed?

  • poor diet
  • stress
  • gluten
  • lack of exercise
  • chronic inflammation
  • environmental toxins
  • vitamin deficiencies 
  • infections
  • drugs
  • and more

What we eat can be a major player in whether you are inflamed or not. Adopting a healthy anti-inflammatory diet, therapeutic supplements, improving sleep quality, exercising and reducing stress levels will help turn off the inflammation response in the brain. 

If you think chronic inflammation is a problem for you, book a consultation. Through looking at your blood work and your symptoms we can determine if inflammation is underlying any mood disturbances you may have. Chronic inflammation is one of those things where the longer you leave it, the worse it usually becomes. Book in today. 

 

Tips To Boost Energy Naturally

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Low energy and tiredness are symptoms that your body and life are out of balance. We are energy. The words we speak are energy. The food we eat is energy. The materials we surround ourselves with are energy. The music we listen to is energy. And of course, the people we spend time with are energy. To boost energy naturally we need to address the person’s entire lifestyle, not just the food aspect. 
 
Nutrition

  • Maintain stable blood sugar levels. Eating a meal filled with simple carbs will cause a blood sugar high and a quick energy boost. But it will dip shortly after causing you to feel tired. Choose foods that are nutrient dense, foods that are real. Include a quality protein at each meal. Amino acids in protein are precursors to you feel good neurotransmitters. 
  • Drink enough water. Dehydration is often one of the first symptoms of tiredness.
  • Use caffeine wisely. It affects your sleep quality. Avoid it by 2 pm or even earlier. 
  • Identity if tiredness is due to a food sensitivity. Eating something you are sensitive to will leave you feeling tired as your body tries to deal with the offending food and it can cross into your brain. 
  • Supplements helpful include Vit D, magnesium, essential fatty acids and vitamin B. Vegans and vegetarians are prone to low vitamin B12 status which can affect energy. 

 
Exercise and lifestyle

  • Walking and sunlight. A natural dose of Vitamin D  and fresh air does wonders to the mind and body. The sun energises plants and it energises us too!
  • Move more. Stand. Stretch. Take the stairs. Stop slouching and stand straight.
  • Exercise smart, not more. Over-exercising is taxing on the body. Keep workouts short. Balance your weight training and high cardio sessions with gentle forms of exercise such as yoga or walking. Yoga is great for unblocking the emotional stress. 
  • Sleep well. We are all different but most of us need 7 to 9 hours of uninterrupted sleep. Less sleep can increase our appetite the next day, alter hormones, depress our immunity and make us more prone to insulin sensitives. 
  • Minimise technology use at night. At night our bodies need to prepare for sleep. We know it is time to sleep when it gets dark outside. But you can’t just turn the bright light-offsand then expect to fall asleep. It takes time. Turn the lights off a few hours prior to bed. Turn the phones and laptops off. All that blue light is interfering with your bodies ability to know it is sleep time.
  • Beware of your thoughts and language. Transmit positive energy through what you say. When someone asks how you are, don’t say okay. Say you are wonderful, it is a beautiful day. You’ll change your physical state and emotional state right away.
  • Do what you love. There is nothing more draining than a job you don’t like. We spend hours at work, of course, you are tired if you don’t enjoy it. outside of work, schedule activities in that you love. Socialize, human connection is important. Hug, dance and laugh.
  • Listen to music that uplifts you. Music has a way of changing our vibration. We do take in all that is around us. If you are listening to sad songs, songs about abuse or drugs that will lower your vibrational state. Find uplifting and upbeat music. Instant mood changer.

Boost Energy Naturally

The Love Vitamin – Love Is the Best Medicine

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love

 

A Wise Physician said, “The best medicine for Humans is LOVE.” Someone asked, “If it doesn’t work?” He smiled and answered, “ Increase the dose.”

Illnesses caused by low levels of essential nutrients, minerals and vitamin are a given. Illness caused by excess wrong types of food are as well. Have you ever considered how Love affects your health as well? 

“Vitamin L” is critically important in infants as you would know. Lack of it can cause developmental and mental problems later on (1). Babies who are not held and hugged enough will literally stop growing and if the situation continues may eventually die. 

In adult life we need a good dose of Vitamin L for optimal health. This vitamin energises us and gives us purposes. It is greatly important to health function and circulation of warmth and good feelings. The digestion of food depends on it. When we eat in a relaxed peaceful state we allow our bodies to take in and absorb the nutrients as opposed to being stressed out or angry where the nutrients often go straight through us. Regular love balances out our nervous system. Endorphins are natural feel good chemicals and natural tranquillisers and are increased with love. Oxytocin decreases the level of cortisol, the stress hormone, and lowers your blood pressure response to anxiety triggering events.

Where can Vitamin L be found? In nature, friends, family, pets and home cooked meals made with whole foods. Fear, anger, worry, self-concern can destroy Vitamin L. 

Start to take inventory of your environment and notice what is depleting you of love. How do you feel when you see certain people? When possible, eliminate or pull back from relationships that do not have Vitamin L reciprocity. Surround yourself daily with loved ones who are uplifting, supportive and nurturing. Have love, respect and care for yourself. 

A famous quote by psychotherapist Virginia Satir goes, “We need 4 hugs a day for survival. We need 8 hugs a day for maintenance. We need 12 hugs a day for growth” (2). 

Take care of yourself, mind, body and soul x. 

 

Making New Year Resolutions Stick

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new year resolutions

New Year’s Resolutions are always done with good intentions, but then life happens and before long the resolution get put to the side without any result. 

Making your resolutions stand the test of time is a tough one. Instead of making big goals such as ‘I want to lose 10 kg’ why not make some do-able small changes. If you were to make some new positive simple habits or routines daily you’d find you would end up losing the weight slowly and without the angst of being on a diet. Of course you’re aim does not be purely to lose weight, maybe you want to be healthier, more energised or more happier.

Below I have listed some ideas to get you started on a healthier version of you. If you have your own I would love you to hear.

  • Save alcohol for the weekend only. 
  • Practice mindful eating. Chew thoroughly and eat without distractions.
  • Plan your meals for the week. This helps you eat better, saves you time and money.
  • Eat two pieces of fruit each day. 
  • Eat at least 5 colours of food each day.
  • Bring your lunch to work each day. Or maybe try Monday to Thursday with Friday being your take out lunch day.
  • Keep your pantry clear of processed foods and only buy them one at a time. If you’re environment is clean it makes it easy to eat better.
  • Start each day with breakfast.
  • Start each day with a glass of warm water and lemon juice.
  • Go meatless one day a week.
  • No electrical devices in the bedroom.
  • Walk 10 000 steps each day.
  • No electrical devices in the bedroom.
  • Go make up free at least one day per week or start wearing natural products only.
  • Replace coffee with green tea.
  • Make an investment to see a personal trainer or nutritionist for greater accountability and specific advice about a health concern.

Once you pick your goals write them down and look at them each day until you have made them a habit. It can be easy to forget about them. Another thing I like to tell my clients in helping them achieve their goals is to never go more than 2 days not doing it. It depends on the change but if it were a change of walking 30 minutes each day and you skip a day that is okay. But don’t ever skip it for more than 2 days. We all probably have been there with exercise, one week of no exercise becomes two and then three and so forth. The easiest thing is not to stop. Create your own little rules that will help you create a new habit. Once you are doing it for about a month you’ll find it becomes effortless. 

Can A Nutritionist Help with Emotional Eating or Disordered Eating?

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The World Health Organization (WHO) defined health in 1948 constitution as “a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”.

Triangle of HealthIn this sense we can recognise that optimal health is more than just want we eat and what we weigh, but it also takes into account our thoughts, feeling as well as our social connection. I like to think of health as an equilateral triangle with one side the physical (your weight, skin health, joint health, etc), one side is your emotional self (mood, motivation, stress, mental health etc) and the third your chemistry component (food, supplements, drugs, hormones etc).  To be in optimal health we cannot simply focus on one of the triangle because if one side is out, then the other two sides are out too. We must be in balance to thrive and flourish. 

Health for each individual person is going to be a little bit different as it considers all the influences on their health including their circumstances, lifestyles, family, environment, work, study and financial situation. A nutritionist seeks to not only look at a person’s food but their life as a whole to achieve optimal health now and in the long term. 

Disordered eating or emotional eating is not simply eating poorly. It is much more complex than that and if we consider the triangle of health we can examine what is going on in the other areas of ones life that are or have been contributing to the problem. 

When working with clients I help them to see beyond the numbers (both body weight and calories) and consider all of these aspects as we move towards health promoting behaviors and self-care.

Some of the things a nutritionist may focus on to help people make this shift include:

  • Working with clients at the level of change that they feel comfortable with. 
  • Exploring the relationship between food and anxiety, emotional triggers and how a client can change this situation.
  • Helping people to break the cycle of binge eating.
  • Working with clients to find out if there are any underlying issues driving the behaviour such as nutritional deficiencies or neurotransmitter imbalances.
  • Achieving a balanced diet with a healthier relation with food.
  • Working towards empowering clients to feel confident without the need for structured eating plans and calorie counting and instead acting on body cues (hunger, fullness, stress, cravings etc.)
  • Self and body acceptance.
  • Strategies to incorporate exercise and activity that is desirable and achievable for the client.
  • Responding appropriately to food desires and cravings.
  • Seeing all food as nutrients to nourish the body as a whole instead of making decisions  purely based on if a food is ‘good’ or ‘bad’.

Preoccupation with food and your body is incredibly tiring. If you are ready to make the change and feel free of dieting contact me for a consultation. Rediscover the pleasure in eating and develop a health relationship with food and your body.

 

3 Healthy Habits to Stay in Shape All Year

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Getting fit and losing fat for an occasion is great. However wouldn’t it be nice if you could be in shape year round instead of going through the battle of strict dieting and training intensively for that wedding, that birthday or that holiday?

There are some important habits to include in your day to day that don’t involve food or exercise that can help you maintain your weight. Here are my top 3:

Prioritise sleep.

Sleep is when your body recovers. A recovered body will function better, get less sick and can burn fat more efficiently. Your mind is clearer when you’re well rested.  You won’t be grabbing that chocolate bar at 3 pm if your energised already. We all make better choices when we are rested. Sleep needs to be a priority. Don’t drag yourself out of bed at 5 am to get to the gym if you’re exhausted! Sleep. Yes you heard right, sleep! 

Eat with people, not screens.

Eating distracted can often lead us to eating more than we need. Our bodies need time to get the ‘full’ signal. Slow down your eating. Chew your food until it is mush. Our bodies need nutrients. If your scoffing your food down you are making it hard for your body to absorb the nutrients in that food. You can have the best quality food but if you are not absorbing what’s the point. If there are no people around, sit in your garden, balcony or if at work in a park. Admire the surroundings while you eat slowly. 

Lastly, hang out with people you would want to be.

Like the Jim Rohn quote “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with”. If you are hanging out with people who drink too much, exercise too little and/or are over weight , then you’re most likely that way too. We pick up the habits of the people around us. Choose your crowd wisely