Better Call Saf (Registered Dietitian)

This post is divided in two section The first one to discuss how to prevent this and the second part on how to alleviate and reduce symptoms in the long term if you’re already suffering of this But before we start with the dietetic side of it, let's mention few things about the sleeping pattern: - Which side you prefer to sleep is actually important , considering that is everyday and almost 1/3 as an average of a day, that means is one of the position we are going to be keeping the most during our life - Sleeping on the LEFT side is better! simply because how our organs are NOT symmetrically placed in our body so with the help of gravity this is the best position to keep your organs while you are sleeping, all of this can prevent or reduce heartburn because gravity will help the waste to move easier in your colon  - A last point to make about sleeping is not just how many hours you sleep but also WHAT time do you go to sleep , making a routine when possible helps your body to reg

  Becuase of work or leisure or any other reason, changes in your routine might happen and is normal at first to find difficulties to adapt, so here some tips to deal better with it  THINGS TO AVOID: - Overeating at night even during a long shift can increase the amount of calories stored in fat and increase the insulin resistance or chronic gut issues and eventrually affect your sleep during the day in a negative way, keep always in mind that calories at night still count   - If it's a new timetable, it doesn't make sense to try to keep all your old meal times, instead could be better to find a  whole new structure that could be at the same time easier to adapt and more functional, This could be one of the first steps to plan meals ahead - Consumption of caffeine can affect your sleep later on , so depending on your tollerance make sure to not drink it to later in the night, 5 or 6 hours before bed time  and make sure to have any drink that is not decaf  - For the reason abov

Similar to the GI we can divide food based on GL that can be: LOW:  under 10 MEDIUM: 11-19 HIGH: over 20   In the previous post we discussed about the GI - Glicemic Index and you might have noticed that sometimes could be confusing and has some flows : - It doesn't consider a portion of that food , so is just giving a generic number to it and sometimes is not that accurate - An example is: watermelon which appears to have a high GI but is actually not becuase it reaches that level only with a very large portion  - GI is a good way to make quick food choices but GL is more accurate and is the next step for a better understanding on what kind of food choices to make - The preparation and other ingredients change the GI for example fibers or a longer cooking method will lower the GI level from the one you will see reported officially There are many tables you can find online basically for any kind of food and here some: http://dietdatabase.com/glycemic-index-and-glycemic-load

  GI stands for Glicemin Index  This is used to measure how a specific food intake is going to rise your blood sugar levels The point is that having a low GI or slow release carbs will help to keep this level low and avoid having peaks with your glucose and therefore the hormones produced by the body during a peak of sugar in your blood The benefits is not a simple weight loss, this plan has a wide range of positve aspects including: - Lower the cholseterol levels  - Reducing the risks of heart diseases - More energy during the day thanks to the slow release of it  - Reducing the risk of developing Diabetes, or keep that under control if already diagnosed Anything that has a GI level can be classified in: LOW GI - under 55 MEDIUM GI -  56-69 HIGH GI - over 70 I will provide a list of food for each of these levels, to have an idea of what to reduce and what to prefer, for any particular ingredient you can also check this trustable source: https://glycemicindex.com/ Things to consider: -

  As the name says a meal replacement is supposed to be a subsitute of one of your main meal, but why would you have that and what are the possible advantages? ADVANTAGES Depending on your personal lifestyle and the dietary targets you are trying to achieve, a meal replacement could be a good idea if you can benefit from one of the following : - Low calories but high in protein: The ingredients to be used for a meal replacements are endless which means you can keep the calories low for any weight loss purpose but keeping the protein high to not lose muscles  - Time saving: Preparing something like a shake cuould take litearally few minutes when the ingredients are already selected and is way better than skipping a meal and avoid long gaps, especially when very busy during the day  - Nutrients: Being able to select the ingredients including supplements/fibres/protein can help to easily achieve the achieve any specific requirements and at the same time avoiding extra calories or an

  Time to time I will provide some quick and easy snack alternatives to have more varieties in your diet and at the same time having a healthy option to use, at the bottom of this post you will find more links with other snack ideas in case you are interested  Snack alternative: Rough Oatcakes  Nutrional Value per 1 Oatcake   Calories : around 50 depending on the brand Fat : around 2gr but saturated fat are less than 1gr Protein : 1.2 gr Carbohydrate : 5.8 gr Fibers : around 1gr Benefits: High in Fiber Easy to consume with a varieties of other ingredients  No artificial flavours or hydrogenated fats  Very low in sugar and fat Things to note: - Originally from Scotland, Since there are  many variations and brands it's a good idea to check the ingredients to make sure is 90% or over wholegrain - Extremely versatile you can find the right combination with the other ingredients you are using and choose a different texture: Rough  Fine Crunchy  -  Vitamins and Minerals are very low in t

  Gut Microbiota how important it is and how to "reset" it, keep it healthy and functional Intro: To understand how important the microbiota is, we are talking about  trillions of bacteria  able to produce hormones and regulate different functions in our body We need to consider that in these trillions  they are not all the same  bacteria and to make it simple a good functional microbiota should have over the 75% of "good"  bacteria against any other type to make sure the ratio to be beneficial for us  Imbalance occurs when the good bacteria have a percentage decreasing with time compared to the overall amount bacteria, harmful one included, so the  ratio needs to be balanced  once again to benefit from it Some symptos and complications related to an unbalanced ratio are: - Upset stomach: gas, heartburn or bloating are more common - Constipation/ Diarrhoea  - Unintentional weight change - IBD (irritable bowel disease) - IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) Why is that ? S