Pregnancy: Changing Nutritional Needs

I have never thought more about food than when I was pregnant.  And that is saying something.  A friend once told me that either I am thinking about what I am about to eat, or what I have just eaten.  This time, though, it was not down to appetite (or lack of) but due to pregnancy issues.  Everyone’s 9 months are different, of course, but here are a few of the hurdles I had to waddle over...

FIRST TRIMESTER

The joys of morning sickness (or noon, or night sickness)! As soon as my pregnancy test pinged positive, I was nauseous.  And it was not just a mildly sick feeling but an all-the-time salivate in the mouth sensation.  I was sure my taste buds had been replaced by an alien’s.  Going to the supermarket was a torturous routine. If I was not left cold by the tomatoes, or retching at the sight of eggs, I was gagging in the raw meat aisle.  Cooking was another form of hell.  I could no longer handle uncooked chicken and the smell of beef frying was absolute no-no. 

My answer: to delegate.  You are pregnant for goodness sake and snacking on rich tea biscuits is not going to get the nutrients you need into your baby.  Mr Sainsbury’s now arrived in a van with weekly supplies.  Hubbie was roped in to preparing and cooking the meat.  Finances permitting, I popped into a deli or cafe a few times a week and ordered something I could stomach.  Often I did not know what mystery foodstuff that would be until I scanned the menu.  And I snacked on oranges – citrus being one of the few flavours that was a friend to my body.

SECOND TRIMESTER

A couple of weeks into my second trimester and hey presto, no more morning sickness.  I was one of the lucky ones – I have friends who felt ill their entire pregnancy.  But now I had a different food problem to tackle.  The midwives told me I was deficient in iron, key for the growing foetus’ health and really important for mum too, due to blood loss at birth. 

Most pregnant women would reach for iron tablets, but these “clog” me up.  Instead, I discovered liquid iron made from fruit extract (Vital F by Hubner), which tastes great and is non-constipating.  I also researched a few dietary changes – Vitamin C helps you to absorb iron, but this can be cancelled out if you drink caffeine at the same time.  So breakfast now consisted of herbal tea instead of builder’s brew, fruit salad, and cereal sprinkled with sunflower seeds that are rich in iron.  I upped my intake of red meat, greens and even baked beans. Within a month or so, my midwives were happy with my iron levels and I was given the all clear (ta da!) 

THIRD TRIMESTER

My thoughts were now turning to the main event.  It was also Christmas and I was happily gorging myself on festive treats (“Eating for two!”).  But around this time, I started itching all over the top half of my body.  I would wake up clawing at my skin for some relief – much the same as having chicken pox.  Severe itching in pregnancy can be related to a condition called obstetric cholestasis or O.C, which affects fewer than one in a hundred women.  Pregnancy hormones can affect your liver function and bile salts, which are normally flushed away, get deposited under the skin.  And while O.C is not harmful to mum, it can be very harmful to unborn infants. 

I had to have weekly blood tests and hospital visits to monitor the bump.  Fortunately, the tests results were all clear; but this did not mean the condition could not still develop – I had many of the symptoms.  As a preventative measure, I did everything I could to improve my liver function.  I reduced my fat intake, ate less sugar (which converts to fat) and less salt.  And at the very time in your pregnancy when you want eat comfort food.

So, I baked meat and fish, which I’d normally fry in the pan, and cooked onions with the tiniest amount of oil and a dash of water (this works surprisingly well).  Crisps were banned from the snack cupboard and bags of raw almonds took their place. Still needing my sweet fix, I substituted anything with added sugar for treats with natural sugars, like honey and liquorice. In fact, I was amazed how easy it was to eat healthier.

Thankfully my hospital tests remained in the clear and the suspected condition did not develop.  Much to my relief, in February, I gave birth to a very healthy and happy little girl.

Pregnancy can raise all sorts of food issues.  If you’ve got concerns about getting the nutrients you need and live in South London, contact the Mini Cooking Club, which is doing classes for pregnant women from May 2013.

By Paula

Nutrition During Pregnancy Programme

 

The Mini Cooking Club will continue to offer educational cooking workshops to families, children and those with mental health concerns. Our future plan is to provide a similar service for pregnant women, so watch this space!

Last year, after discussion with parents and healthcare professionals, it became apparent that there was a lack of these workshops for pregnant women in many London areas. It is highly important that these women have optimum health and nutrition - not just during pregnancy, but afterwards too.

The Mini Cooking Club has therefore decided to offer educational cooking workshops to pregnant women as it is believed that this will not only offer women the opportunity to learn about the benefits of good nutrition for their own health, alongside that of their families.

We are still in the process of developing the 6-week Nutrition during Pregnancy programme, but here is a sneak preview for all the eager beavers:

• Healthy eating and pregnancy – based on the Eatwell plate in relation to the different stages of pregnancy, with a focus on vitamins and minerals.
• Foods to avoid (and foods to consume in moderation e.g. certain animal products, caffeine).
• Food safety and hygiene – preparation, storage, cooking and eating out.
• Specialist diets – cultural and religious (e.g. vegan, halal).
• Pregnancy and exercise – resolve any concerns and provide exercise advice
• Breastfeeding and weaning – healthy eating advice after the birth and weaning portion sizes.

In addition to the above, each session will also contain a cooking workshop. It is hoped that by educating women and providing them with the skills to cook food at home, there will be less reliance on unhealthy foods and an enjoyment of home cooking that will contribute to family growth and development.

Interview: Maggy on The Mini Cooking Club Running a Nutrition Workshop for Evolve

The Mini Cooking Club is a charity which runs sessions for children and adults with mentalhealth concerns, but also nutrition workshops for anyone who wants to learn more about healthy eating. In these workshops, Cecilia - the club’s founder - teaches things like the importance of the “Eat Well Plate”, understading food labelling and cooking nutritious food at home.

We just finished working with Evolve. Evolve is a free, confidential and friendly service for stimulant and cannabis users, and their families living in Southwark. It is run by a lovely woman called Maggy. She works hard with her team to provide fully-trained one-to-one support, facilitate groups and run regular drop-in sessions.

What is the relationship between nutrition and drugs use, and why did Evolve team up with The Mini Cooking Club? I went to see Maggy to ask her views on healthy eating, how it can empower lives, and how she found the Cecilia’s nutrition workshop.

Me:W hy did Evolve and The Mini Cooking Club team up?

Maggy: At Evolve, we realised the importance of understanding food, how it impacts your life and how it can play an empowering role in the recovery process. Since there is a lot of misinformation out there on nutrition, we decided it would be good for staff to have nutritional training so they could give the clients they were supporting the best advice on how to make a positive impact on their lives simply by changing their eating habits. We got in touch with the Copleston inviting Cecilia to provide nutrition workshops!

Me: So what is Evolves’ ethos?

Maggy: We focus on emotional well-being and psychological wellbeing. We look at the whole person. It’s about how we can support that person to make healthier choices in every aspect in their life. This means one of the things we are concerned with is whether those we help are eating a balanced diet.

Me: How did you think The Mini Cooking Club could support you in achieving this?

Maggy: We were looking for nutrition courses that we can refer clients to because clients are actually asking for it. They were aware their lifestyles were changing with what they ate. Their physical health was better – but many hadn’t had prior experience of knowing what a balanced diet was - or how to cook or prepare nutritious food on a budget – and were keen to gain insight on this.

Me: What did they learn, for example?

Maggy: They learned that someone’s mood might be affected because they eat food that is very processed and as a result their bodies aren’t supporting the release of dopamine or serotonin.

Me: And why would you say that is important?

Maggy: Because understanding the positive role of food can be a tool for individuals to change their lifestyles. The current recovery model that all treatment services advocate is recovery capital and supporting individuals coming into treatment – not just to reduce their drug use but to build up support networks and skills and knowledge that will help them go back into a new community. Being able to budget, cook well, see food in a social, joyous way as well as to understand what healthy eating is, is part of that recovery capital.

Me: Does learning help people to build part of a new identity?

Maggy: Definitely. If you take anybody who doesn’t come from a background of substance use and enrol them on a cookery course they invite their friends around as soon as possible. I would say it’s definitely one part of being able to see themselves in a different way and a more positive way. It’s also about people being able to nurture themselves – especially in taking time to budget for good food. A lot of people haven’t experienced what it is to be nurtured.

Me: I agree that food is a part of nurturing yourself. What do you think of The Mini Cooking Club, whose aim is to teach essential cooking skills to those who are underprivileged?

Maggy: I think the Mini Cooking Club is a wonderful charity. Learning to cook on a budget is important, and part of working in this area is to understand what else we can deliver to clients, and how we support those who have very little money.

Me: What did you think was important after the workshop with Cecilia?

Maggy: I think it is a really important idea to help clients plan their meals and budget.  I think clients don’t understand how many calories they might need in a day and what a healthy snack is. It’s about structuring. We do a lot of helping clients structure their days.

Me: What did you think of Cecilia and what did you like?

Maggy: Training was very good and she was very relaxed and approachable trainer. She brought fun to it. I found the information about how misleading food packages can be really interesting. Nutrition can be quite complex. I thought it was good learning about how much fat and sugar we should be aiming for in the day and understanding how we can be misled by food industry and packaging.

Me: That’s great!

All in all, Cecilia’s workshops sound invaluable, and Evolve is an important organisation steadily making a difference in individual’s lives. In this short interview, I learned a lot about how using substances can negatively impact one’s health, and how focusing on healthy eating can bring about immensely positive changes. Hopefully more and more people will be able to access this information to make a positive difference in their lives. I’ll be keen to attend a nutrition workshop myself!

By Jessica Heath

Food Waste across the Food Supply Chain (FSC)

Food waste is an expression most people are familiar with, whether you’ve heard it on the news or the radio, read it the paper, or had it mentioned in a chat with the neighbours. Today, food waste is one of the major issues Western economies are tackling (although it is also a problem in developing and transitional countries). The term food waste or food loss refers to food thrown away or lost food that could have been used for human consumption instead.
 

But, how is food waste produced? The results of research so far highlights that food waste occurs at most stages of the Food Supply Chain (FSC), even at the beginning of production. For example, crop losses can occur before harvest due to pest infestations, climate conditions, or as a result of the use of harvesters which may damage the crops. During the post-harvest stage, food losses can occur in storage, as a result of humid and high temperatures fostering the germination of insects, pests and microorganisms. Such unfavourable environmental conditions also have a negative impact on the quality of food, altering its nutritional and caloric values and making it unfit for human consumption. These food losses chiefly concern developing countries, owing to food production systems which lack in appropriate and effective technologies, storage, technical skills, knowledge and infrastructures.
 

In developed countries, considerable quantities of food are wasted in retail. Many retail stores discard foods because of passing their use-by and sell-by dates, even though it is still edible. Even packaging, which is generally helpful in both preserving food and keeping it from damages may contribute to food waste, contaminating food that could be used to feed animals instead.
 

 However, the most significant food waste actually occurs at the end of FSC – at home. According to the conclusions of some studies (Exodus 2006; Brook Lyndhurst 2007; WRAP 2008/2009) carried out in UK and US and focusing on the reasons why food is wasted by consumers, food waste can be divided into two “consumers’ wasteful behavior” categories: the first category is often referred to as “leftovers” and concerns waste  occurring because of cooking or the serving too much food. The second one was labeled as “(Food) not used in time”, which includes waste produced when food passes its “use by” date.

Estimates report that approximately one third of the West’s food production is annually lost or wasted, and “an estimated 8.3 million tons of household food waste is produced each year in the UK”, equivalent to a yearly cost of £10.2 billion - about £250 to £400 per household (WRAP 2008). In 2010, food waste decreased by 13% to 7.2 million tons, but still corresponded to around one third of all food bought in the UK each year – meaning it could have theoretically fed half UK population.
 

Such figures inevitably raise ethical concerns. It is vital that a significant decrease of food waste is achieved across the FSC – but how can that be done? With regards developing economies, a potential solution would be large-scale financial investments, aimed at improving their production, transport and distribution systems. Conversely, in developed countries, this would require a shift in consumer behavior. In 2000 the government-funded West Resources Action Program (WRAP), was created to deal with the problem and promote reduction of food waste.
 

It has been intensified further by the launch of “Love Food, Hate Waste” campaign in 2007, who have suggested useful strategies to prevent food waste. They encourage individuals to understand date labels, plan their meals and what they want to buy in advance, and use leftovers to prepare other meals. For example, if you have some pasta, rice or vegetables leftover in the saucepan, why not make a delicious Italian “frittata” with them? On Love Food, Hate Waste website you will find varying tips and advices in more details, as well as a section dedicated to a selection of tasty and healthy recipes to tickle your appetite, challenge your creativity in the kitchen, and improve your cooking repertoire. A possible contribution to avoid wasting food could be made by everyone – and what a difference that would make.

 

By Erica Romano & Jessica Heath

Elderly Nutrition

A London fashion magazine recently hailed being in your 80’s to be the new 20’s!  This year, a host of octogenarians have appeared on the catwalks of New York and as stylish cover girls.  Certainly, these days, no one gives you a passport to join the blue rinse brigade when you get your pension. 

But if you’re one of the 10 million people aged over 65 in the UK – or a carer or relative of an older person - listen up.  Research has found that a staggering 97 per cent of people aged 65 and over aren’t getting their recommended vitamin intake. 

So if you want to be fending off the paparazzi next year, or simply to stay in your prime for longer, here are the Mini Cooking Club’s top foodie tips for the older generation:

           

     1. Did you know the thirst mechanism declines as you get older?

This is the ability that tells you when to drink water and if you can’t feel thirsty, you probably won’t be getting enough liquids.  Dehydration can lead to falls and other complications in older people.  Make sure you’re getting 8 glasses of liquid a day, even if it does mean more annoying trips to the loo.

2. Did you know as you notch up another candle on your birthday cake, your bone density is reducing?

Another natural part of ageing means your bones become less dense.  So when an older person falls, a simple tumble might mean a trip to the hospital.  What can be done about it?  Eat more calcium – and this doesn’t just mean milk and cheese, but greens like broccoli and spinach or even brazil nuts.  Taking care of this tricky issue will stave off fractures in the future.

3. Did you know as you age, your immune system naturally declines?

Older people are more susceptible to infection and catching a nasty flu bug in winter.  But you can fight back.  Eating your five-a-day, and a good mix of protein, carbs and greens will stand you in good stead when those coughs and colds start flying around...

4. Did you know if you’re less active, your appetite will go down?

If you’re over 65, there’s probably no way that you’re getting the same exercise you got when you were 20 – no matter how many catwalk turns you get asked to do!  And eating like a mouse won’t get the right amount of nutrients into your diet, so stay active to keep your appetite up.  This will also help to keep you ‘regular’, another thorny problem common in older people.

5. Did you know if you’re not getting out as much, you’re not getting as much sunlight and vital Vitamin  D?

Older people are more likely to spend time indoors which means few get the Vitamin D they need to maintain bone and heart health.  So try to eat more oily fish, eggs and cereals or take a supplement to boost your intake of this key vitamin.

We think you’ll look better and feel better if you follow our foodie tips, whether you’re working that ‘silver fox’ look in Paris or in your local Tescos... Happy eating!

By Paula