How nutrition can help post lockdown

During the pandemic, many of us have found ourselves indoors either working from home, or sitting around doing little activity. This has caused physical and mental fatigue; lack of motivation may have resulted in poor eating habits, weight gain, stiff muscles and poor sleeping patterns. This blog breaks down why you will benefit from seeing a nutritionist to get your health and wellbeing back on track!

Poor eating habits

Lots of people admit they are confined to their comfort foods like chocolates, biscuits, crisps and beer!If you’ve found your eating has spiralled out of control, it is important to understand ‘why’. Many people think ‘end of the world’ is coming, and this mentality can result in comfort eating.

Boredom can also be a trigger; when you are inside all day and the fridge is nearby, it is easy to get distracted through snacking. However, when you are eating based on emotions, it is a short-term fix rather than a long-term solution.

Eating foods that are high in fat, sugar or salt activate the brain’s reward system; chocolate has a strong effect on mood, which usually increases pleasurable feelings and reduces tension.

Highly palatable foods are known to activate the same brain regions of reward and pleasure that are active in those who have drug addictions. Research has shown, obese individuals present the same areas of activation in their brain as those who take drugs when anticipating highly palatable foods (Avena et al., 2012).

Nutritionists are trained in understanding the scientific base of nutrition and can provide insights into how the food we eat impacts on our health and well-being, based on science and fact. These changes can help boost your mood, improve your overall health and help you maintain a healthy weight.

Reduced microbial diversity

It is very easy to forget about our gut microbiome with everything going on, but not eating right can heavily impact our important, friendly bacteria.

A diet high in sugar, processed foods and lack of vegetables, which is repetitive can starve out the bacteria we need and we start to feed the unfriendly bacteria which can replicate between 3-6 minutes!

An overgrowth in unwanted bacteria and other nasty’s like pathogens and yeast can result in symptoms such as bloating, nausea, extreme fatigue, brain fog, constipation and acid reflux.

Working with a nutritionist is effective in identifying these symptoms, and by removing the trigger foods, replacing them with diverse foods which are high in fibre can help eliminate these symptoms. By managing other factors the gut wall can also be strengthened to prevent relapses from occurring.

Low energy levels

Getting back into the ‘normal’ routine can take a toll on your energy levels, especially if you have not been keeping active. Reduced time spent going out and being active starts to slow the metabolism down and can make us feel more sluggish, so it’s essential to incorporate some sort of activity, whether it is a walk, skipping or housework; this can help improve your mental and physical state.

Reduced exposure to daylight (sun) decreases the amount of melatonin and serotonin produced in the brain, which can lower mood and as a result this affects our sleeping pattern. This can also lead to a deficiency in vitamin D, and in the UK 1 in 5 people have a deficiency in vitamin D (BNF, 2020). Symptoms of vitamin D deficiency include fatigue, muscle stiffness and pain, as well as getting sick often as this can lower your immune system. If you suffer with any of these symptoms and do not get enough sunlight, I would encourage you to start eating vit-D rich foods and spending at least 20 minutes out in the sun. If this makes no changes, we can look at introducing supplements into the diet.

If you have not been moving as much as you normally do, there is a good chance that you are not breathing as deeply as you are used to, which can lead to a reduction in the oxygen levels in our tissues and an increased level of carbon dioxide. This causes tiredness, and a feeling of lack of energy; you may even find yourself yawning more than usual to supply your brain with the oxygen it needs. Try and stretch and do breathing exercises as much as you can throughout the day.

Whether you admit it or not, you have been using more electronic devices from the time you get up to the time you go to bed. These devices produce blue light, which interfere with the sleep hormone, melatonin, causing sleep disturbance.Try to switch off blue light devices two hours before you go to bed, and instead read or listen to relaxing music before going to bed.