The LO Team meet renowned nutritional specialist Julie Silver for a talk on diet, stress and most of all – productivity!

Julie Silver

In our modern lifestyles one of the last things we tend to think about is our diet, and how it affects our day-to-day life and productivity.  Julie Silver is a renowned nutritional expert specialising in diet, stress and resultant energy levels. Luckily, here at Loving Outdoors HQ we were fortunate enough to meet her; our in-depth morning session gave us a great insight into the different types of foods and how they affect us.

The first key point was that of maintaining consistent blood sugar (therefore energy levels) throughout the day, as opposed to the highs and lows experienced with drinking and eating such things as coffee and sweets. The main culprits for causing ups and downs or low energy levels were unsurprisingly things such as chocolate, sugary snacks and drinks, caffeine and alcohol (which is why they’re addictive); more surprisingly though, so were foods such as bread and big fatty meals, or even fruit highs.

According to Julie, the most dehydrating, challenging and acidic grain was wheat, due to its high gluten content. For which the the body has to produce more fluid to digest the gluten-ey ‘gloop’, which is why a lot of people feel bloated if they have eaten wheat (amount will vary from person to person, (and how manly they are). The next was rye which is less glutinous and dehydrating as wheat, followed by Barley and oats still containing some gluten but less dehydrating. The concept was simple, that more acidic foods = greater stress, and more dehydration (therefore loss of energy).

Gluten free grains were rice; the healthiest would be brown organic rice, Basmati, and Millet (the most alkaline grain which is also very easy to digest).  Proteins were said to be normally over consumed and although one may lose weight from high protein diets, they actually increase toxic states, and are very dehydrating. In order of highest to lowest challenge is pig, cow, lamb, foul/white meat, then fish – (organic if possible.)  The foods to eat then that are much less challenging and dehydrating are beans, pulses, tofu, seeds (sunflower, pumpkin) and nuts. Supplementary snacks are actually readily available at most supermarkets, such as Nairn’s biscuits and other interesting alternatives.

Julies approach to maintaining such a diet was refreshingly unique though, with her main psyche being “Not trying to resist foods, but to simply eat more consciously, helping you to enjoy your food more, getting more nutrients from it and make more informed decisions if food isn’t suiting you.” (If you aren’t sure if a food is affecting you then try eliminating it for a week or two and then reintroduce it to see if affects you in a negative way.)

Julie believes (and we like to agree) that we are attracted to certain foods for a reason and we do need to enjoy what we eat. The solution then is to not try giving anything up, but mentally ask your body whether it wants that particular food/drink or not, and then substitute it when ready for something else. Whatever you decide to eat though, eat with acceptance, chew well and enjoy. This will make any food more alkaline, easier to digest and have a more positive effect on every cell of your body.

Here at Loving Outdoors then, we’re mostly trying our best to implement our new diets (especially Scott – no crisps or chocolate EVER again, lets see how long that lasts!) It’s even quite fun in-fact, and already we can feel a difference in more sustained, steady energy levels. In-fact, Julie claims to feel better (now in her 40′s) than in her 20′s! The idea being that, with sustained efforts, we are  capable of actually achieving higher sustained energy levels those temporary highs felt on coffee etc. on a permanent basis. For more information, visit www.JulieSilver.co.uk
(Julie has appeared on Channel M breakfast show and lifestyle programme, Digital DM TV, and has been featured in the Manchester Evening News and other publications and spoken on local radio. She runs corporate wellness programmes and has been helping many companies such as IKEA, Colgate Palmolive, PZ Cussons, Manchester Airport, Shell UK etc. to be more productive, educating about stress management and nutrition in and out of the workplace. She gives talks, runs healthy eating workshops and also does consulting and healthy cooking coaching on a 1-2-1 basis.