Is Diastasis Recti The Reason for Your Mummy Tummy?

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I recently blogged about the many excuses reasons you might have a mummy tummy, but couldn’t possibly do anything about it.

Diastasis recti is without doubt a major culprit. If you have a postnatal belly which bulges or protrudes, & seems to form a cone shape when you get up from lying on your back, then you probably do have split abdominal muscles, or diastasis recti. You will also likely be suffering from weak core muscles – that’s the muscles that support your lower back, define your waistline & are connected to your pelvic floor.

Appropriate exercises for diastasis recti are the core activation & strengthening exercises discussed here. You see, the muscles that have split – the outermost, vertical recti muscles of your abdomen – are connected to the important transverse abdominus muscle that lies deep inside.

Any exercise that strengthens the transverse muscle & draws it IN, by default will also draw the recti muscles TOGETHER.

Multi-tasking exercise. We like that.

But I would like to add a cautionary note, that follows on from my post about the psychology of excuses… if you do not perform these exercises on a daily basis to repair your diastasis recti & strengthen your core AS WELL AS eat & exercise intensively to lose fat… you will not get rid of your mummy tummy.

Diastasis recti is:

1. Reparable

2. Not the only problem with most mummy tummies

In our determination to identify the one issue to place all our focus on, we easily lose sight of the maybe more obvious stuff. I recently dealt with a client who was so fixated on diastasis recti as the key to all her mummy tummy woes, she chose to ignore (or at least downplay) her excessive sugar consumption. The abdominal gap wasn’t the big deal in this particular case, the sugar in her diet was. But it was easier to focus on the former as that felt more ‘medical’, more out of her control, or was maybe just less painful or less hassle to deal with.

Postnatal fat loss does not have one isolated answer.

This is why my MuTu System (soon to be available even if you don’t live in London… watch this space!) incorporates 5 essential components, ONE of which is treating diastasis recti.

Don’t kid yourself into thinking that if you could just close the gap in your abdominal muscles, all would be flat & gorgeous. In some cases this may be the predominant problem (every individual is unique), but there are 4 other issues. Ignore them, & you will make improvements, but you won’t have solved the problem.

Are you confused by the extent of your own diastasis recti, & how much it contributes to the appearance of your tummy? Let me know where you’re struggling & I’ll try to clear it up for you!

The Mummy Tummy Food Diary Analysis… How To Eat the MuTu Way

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Karin at Cafebebe & her food confessions start here… This is how to eat to lose your Mummy Tummy, the MuTu way!

Karin, her tummy & her Little Miss

Want postnatal fat loss? Even if you’re not so postnatal anymore… that’s OK. Please join the *really-quite-a-few-months-postnatal-now* lovely Karin on her journey to a smaller stomach!

I have a few days of food diary from Karin now, & so have added my suggestions, alternatives & waggy finger *tut tut*comments below.

Keep the confessions coming Karin! You did tell me to let you have it, & I, um, have. Hope you’re sitting down Love.

Thursday, Early AM:
1/2 cinnamon-raisin bagel w/ light scraping of Bertolli spread; Cup of tea/splash of milk; 2 tsp Splenda

Bagels are very high GI – this means they convert to sugar almost immediately in your system, give you a quick energy burst & blood sugar high, then fizzle away to empty calories & hunger. Wholegrain spelt, rye or wheat (more on wheat later) bread with some no-crap-added peanut butter or an egg for protein would give much more sustained energy & nutrition.

More on bloating & sugar & intolerance here

Late Morning:
1 piece of Hovis Hearty Oats bread; 1 poached egg; 1 small satsuma

This is a much better combination… have it first thing then you could delete those empty bagel calories from the equation!

Snack: 1 pkt Lighter Choice Tesco Melba Toast (6 wee slices); 2 tbsp Caramelized Onion Hummus

Beware packaged foods claiming to be ‘light’, ‘low fat’ or ‘diet’ foods. A food that naturally contains fat will taste pretty darned odd or unpleasant without it. So they add something else (usually more sugar, or salt, or something chemical & nasty) to make it taste nice again. Keep foods in their natural state, & you can’t go far wrong.

Lunch: 2 cups tri-colour, whole wheat fusilli pasta; cream & mushroom sauce (but not very creamy… I think single cream & not much of it); small piece of chocolate sponge; Cup of tea/splash of milk, 2 tsp unrefined golden caster sugar

The wheat was wholegrain, so that’s good, then lots of sugar, lots of saturated fat… & one vegetable! ;)

Snack: Banana
I like that snack! Have a handful of nuts with it to slow down the GI, add protein & keep you feeling satisfied.

Dinner:
2 handfuls McCain’s French Fries; 4 Tesco Cheese & Onion quiche; 2 tbsp Heinz beans; 1 tbsp coleslaw (Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference)

After dinner I was MASSIVELY bloated & uncomfortable!
Hmmm, that’s because the only healthy thing in there was the baked beans… & possibly you ate a bit too much, quite late at night.  Shop-bought baked goods (anything with pastry) will almost certainly contain nasty hydrogenated fats. We don’t like those. More wheat in the pastry too.

2 pint glasses of water w/ splash of Oceanspray Cranberry & Raspberry squash drink

Lots of sugar in it, but could be a lot worse!

(slinks away & hides)
:) Karin

As well you might Mrs…

Friday: (45 minute walk)

Some exercise! I like that!

Cup of tea w/ milk, 2 tsp sugar; 1/2 cinnamon bagel; Bowl of Rice Krispies w/ semi-skimmed milk

Try to reduce the processed nature of your breakfasts – any goodness the grains used in these packaged cereals had has been long since processed away (that’s why they add all those vitamins). Try oats, spelt flakes, dried fruit, nuts, seeds (ie make your own muesli) Just buy all the things you like separately – much cheaper – then throw them all in a big tupperware.
Coconut milk (wonderful, healthy stuff), hemp or organic oat milk (most supermarkets do sell this stuff  – try the dairy/wheat free aisles or sometimes it’s randomly in with the cartons of long life milk) are great alternatives to dairy.

Chicken/mayo/salad on white bread sandwich; 6 Pringles; 1/4 boiled egg; 1 scoop hazelnut/chocolate ice cream

The salad’s good… ;) Seriously though,  just a few changes will  make this healthy. Ditch the mayo, double the salad & switch the bread for one of the types mentioned before, add free range chicken… Healthy sandwich! Pringles are the Devil’s work. Nothing more to say there. The egg is good, good, good! The ice-cream… well I think you KNOW about that one.

1 small nectarine

Fruit. Fruit is good.

1 pkt. Tesco Light Choice Melba Toast; 1 tbsp carmelised onion hoummus

1 poppadom w/ 1 tsp mango chutney; Onion Baghee (4 small ones/starter); Mushroom Biryani (4 tbsp rice/2 tbsp sauce); Plain Naan; Small glass Rosé

You went out for a curry & a drink. It’s OK, that’s allowed… so long as you make the changes to the rest of the week!

Saturday 7 August:
2 cups of tea w/ milk/ 4 sugars; 1/2 cinnamon bagel; 2 small nectarines

1 piece Hovis Hearty Oats bread; 1 tbsp peanut butter

Oat bread OK, nectarines good, peanut butter good (so long as it’s the crunchy, no sugar added sort)

2 pieces garlic bread (Tesco Light Choice); 2 cups baked spaghetti;
1 breadstick

It’s white (ie processed, no goodness left) wheat bread again – this is what is making you feel bloated, honest.

1/4 Mattesons Smoked Sausage; 2 pieces Hovis Hearty Oats bread; 2 tbsp Heinz baked beans

Sunday 8 August:
1 cup of tea/milk + 2 tsp sugar; Bacon Roll & Hash Brown (McDonalds); 250ml Orange Juice

Med Mocha Frescato (Costa)

Sugar, sugar, sugar & a bit of sugar.

So you darkened the doors of the Golden Arches & followed it with a nice cold cup of sugar & additives. Just don’t do it again if you want to lose that tummy, Lady.

10 Meatballs w/ gravy (IKEA); small portion of chips

Well, so long as the meatballs were made with organic, lean mince, the gravy had no hydrogenated fat in it & the chips were oven baked. No? Oh, not so great then.

2 pieces of chicken; 1 tbsp stuffing; 2 small roast potatoes; 1 corn on the cob; 1 piece of Yorkshire pudding

If this as all home made & fresh – nothing wrong with a good roast in my book.

2 pint glasses of water

OK, so now Karin hates me & has slunk away to eat a baguette with jam on whilst sticking pins in a small annoying Wendy doll.

Your homework for the next week Lovely CafeBebe:

  • Cut out refined wheat. This means white pasta, white bread & all types of pastry or baked goods made with wheat flour. I PROMISE you will feel better. Seek out rye & spelt bread, try oatcakes instead. If you must have wheat, have wholegrain (not just ‘brown’ ). Go to the health-food shop & find different types of pasta, crackers & breads. Don’t think ‘ it’s too much hassle’ – it’s not, it’s your body & it’s important & you want to change it, remember?
  • Eat more fresh vegetables – at least 5 servings a day
  • Drink more water
  • Start reading – really READING – labels.

Will you join Karin on her quest to clean up her food act & lose the tummy? Please leave a comment & give the lady some encouragement – especially since she probably thinks she’s just been right royally told off.

This is where I say, it’s for your own good’ , but she still wants to punch me. She’ll have to catch me first though. XX

No More Excuses! (Well, Except THIS One)

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I’m having a philosophical moment, so bear with me. Well I did call my company No More Excuses…

Very often we look for the one culprit, the one reason why we’re bigger, or wobblier, or less fit, than we’d like to be. The reason WE couldn’t possibly run, do  any real postnatal exercise, eat in a way that would actually reduce the size of your mummy tummy, take the time to relax, breathe deeply or spend some time looking after *us*.

It might be a physiological condition, an emotional issue or a logistical obstacle. Whatever it is, it makes us somehow the exception to the rule.

We then focus on that one issue, blaming it for all our woes. *THIS* is why I haven’t got the flat tummy / energy / fitness levels / thinner thighs that I really want. This is why I can’t go running today, or eat right, or take 10 minutes to just breathe & still my mind for a brief moment. See? It’s out of my control. There’s nothing I can do. All those things that work for other people… consistent, correctly performed intensive exercise, a clean diet, postural correction or a positive attitude… they won’t work for ME. Because I’VE got *THIS* to deal with.

I believe that we CAN take control. That consistency, focus & some real knowledge, can take us a very long way towards our physical & emotional goals. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not denying the existence or validity of the often very real obstacles that every one of us faces. Very often we really can’t control them. But we can decide how big an obstacle we’re going to convince ourselves that they really are.

Before we say “You know what, I AM important. I deserve to look & feel better about myself. I’m going to take some good advice, figure out a strategy & then I’m going to actually DO it”.

What do you think? Do you recognise yourself? Do you agree? I’d love to know what you think!

How to Eat To Lose Your Mummy Tummy

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So you have a mummy tummy. Well Karin’s not afraid to admit to having one anyway. And I’m a sucker for one of the sisterhood in tears, so when she came to find me at the CyberMummy conference for a hug & some support because yet another person had thought she was pregnant… I had to step in.

Her mummy tummy is due to a number of factors, almost definitely including (I haven’t been able to personally test her, but it’s a pretty safe bet) diastasis recti – lots more on this here; weak core muscles & a good few layers of fat sitting on top. There may very well be other factors, including food intolerance or allergy causing excessive bloating, insulin resistance or unbalanced blood sugar levels due to eating habits, lifestyle factors & stress.

Right now… we’re on the FOOD bit.

Karin is under orders to write down every morsel of food & drop of drink that pass her lips for 2 weeks. As she has already learnt, the very fact of writing it down can be rather effective in itself. Suddenly you’re accountable. ‘Some one’s going to read this. Hell, what if they think I’m a pig? What if they think I haven’t got a clue?’

The writing down bit is a start, even if you’re not going to get a scary personal trainer-type read over it. Try it for yourself! It really makes you think about what you’re eating & may surprise you. Often the number of coffees/ biscuits/pieces of toast/glasses of wine/handful of crisps that creep in whilst not actually counting as ‘meals’ can add up without your realising.

I’ve had one day’s worth form Karin so far, but I’m going to prolong her agony for a couple more days before telling you what she’s eating or giving any advice. I need to know how she eats for a few days (then we can all have a good look ;) ) in order to give some meaningful guidance.

This by the way is a good test of any personal trainer or programme. If you are following any kind of regime or programme of any description, if your nutrition is not being addressed as a priority then you’re not going to get anywhere. You can exercise until you collapse, but you won’t see any improvement if you’re sabotaging all your hard work with crappy eating.

Just so you know, I will NOT be putting Karin on a diet. I don’t do diets. Diets are rubbish & don’t work because if they did there’d only be one diet book instead of thousands. The diet industry makes an utterly scandalous amount of money by convincing us we need to buy their excuses for food. We don’t. Nature makes food quite well by itself thank-you. But I can give you some ideas & guidelines on how to navigate the labels, the claims & the ‘science bits’ that the food industry loves to confuse us with.

This is not a diet, its how to eat the MuTu way.

So please give Karin your support & why not join her by keeping your own food diary for the next week or so?

Core Exercise Video for Mums

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As you may have heard me mention before, ;)   if you want to get rid of a mummy tummy, the LAST thing you should be doing is crunches & sit ups, or reverse curls, or oblique twists… more on why here

What you should be doing instead is core strength training that works your rectus muscles (the vertical ones down the front of your tummy that often split if you’ve been pregnant) in a linear, not gaping direction.

Exercises like these. (Please see safety notes below before trying these!) This little routine also works pretty much your entire upper & lower body, as well as your tummy too!

Warning! Take care of your back during these exercises – they’re hard! You MUST keep your abs pulled in & pelvic floor engaged throughout to support your back. If you ‘let go’ of your abdominal muscles, your back will sag as it takes your full body weight & it will hurt :(

Only the one from the kneeling position (pulling the ball in with your elbows) is suitable during pregnancy, & this is the one which should be attempted & mastered first even if you’re not pregnant.

The pike position with straight legs & your bottom in the air is pretty advanced & you need strong core muscles to maintain the postion. So watch it all through full first & then start slowly… Have fun!

Yoga for your Pelvic Floor

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If you’ve ever been pregnant (which if you’re here I’m assuming you probably have) you will have heard of pelvic floor exercises. They’re pretty darned important (read more on why here) should you wish to hold in your wee for the rest of your days, so well worth genning up on.

Pelvic floor exercises are often called Kegels, named after the (male of course) gynecologist who ‘invented’ them. According to Wikipedia, “Arnold H. Kegel M.D., F.A.C.S. (1894–1981) was a gynecologist who invented the Kegel Perineometer (used for measuring vaginal air pressure) and Kegel exercises (squeezing of the muscles of the pelvic floor).”

Don’t know about you, but I’m not crazy about the idea of having my vaginal air pressure measured, but I’ve also always found it rather amusing that a man *invented* the squeezing of the vaginal muscles (or is that just me?).

Since then, a random eminent french physiotherapist (bloke again. hmmm…) invented *his* own special brand of ‘negative pressure abdominal exercises’. Which yogis have actually been doing for thousands of years, but they use much more romantic sounding Sanskrit words like Pranayama (yoga breath), Mula Bandha (pelvic floor or root lock) & Supta Uddiyana Bandha* (lying down abdominal decompression)

I guide clients through elements of this Pranayama, Bandha & decompression practice as part of my MuTu System, but essentially it is a beautifully relaxing & highly beneficial breathing technique, which ‘draws up’ & contracts the pelvic floor muscles. It has the added benefit of helping you to really connect with & engage the vital core muscles.

A wonderful book I would like to recommend to you whether you’re pregnant or already a mum is Mother’s Breath, by Uma Dinsmore-Tuli – you can see more about her work here. I wish I’d been a student of hers when I was pregnant 3 & 4 years ago… possibly that helipcopter might have been avoided :(

So my advice today is:

1. DO your pelvic floor exercises. (PS. They’re yours, ignore anyone who tells you they invented them

2. Take just a few moments today to take some full, deep, yoga breaths into your rib-cage & your tummy, NOT just into your shoulders & throat. Without hunching your shoulders, fill your lungs, feeling your ribs & tummy expand. Then squeeze all the air out, pulling your pelvic floor up & your drawing your tummy button in towards your spine on the exhale. Do this a few times… you’ll be more relaxed immediately!

The above breathing practice is the fore-runner to the full Bandhas & decompressions of the abdomen, & can be done  safely at any stage of pregnancy or motherhood. Let me know if you like it!

And Relax…… :)

* Concepts reproduced with kind permission, Copyright Uma Dinsmore-Tuli: ‘Mother’s Breath’ 2006



20 Minute Postnatal Fat Loss Interval Training Video

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Here is your 20 (-ish) minute Interval Training video! You don’t need any equipment, you don’t need to go anywhere, & your kids can join in… Have fun!

It seems that promising to shoot a video with my brand new flip camera, figure out how to turn that into an actual ‘video’, put some pretty music on it & make it *appear* on my blog, all over the weekend when my son had his 3rd birthday… was frankly a little ambitious.

I’m hoping future videos won’t take me quite so long to produce, & I hope it helps to make a little more sense of what you’re supposed to be doing on the ‘intervals” days of your 5K training programme.

PS I’m not sure yet how to credit music properly, so until I know the rules … it’s Dansez-Vous on the Hang on Little Tomato album by Pink Martini

Enjoy your workout ladies – let me know how you’re doing!

No More Mummy Tummy 5K Training Programme

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Mummy To 5K!

Maria at the Mummy’s Busy World blog is encouraging lots of other lovely mums to sign up to do a 5k race in aid of Arthritis Research in September. Just click the badge to find out all about the event!

I thought a 5K training programme might help… it’s a special, No More Excuses training programme, which means it’s written by a mum, for mums. It knows you haven’t got any time; it assumes you’re pretty much a beginner  & it knows you’ve got a whole lot of excuses as to why you can’t go running today. It’s a huge step in the direction of your postnatal fitness… so please join in!

To give you some context, 5K is just over 3 miles, & if you were to run it all at a pretty good steady pace, will take you 30-35 minutes. So have in your head that you’re working towards being able to run for a good half an hour without stopping.

So, without further ado, this is how you get ready to run, or run/walk a 5K in about 6 week’s time.

Each week you should aim to exercise (note, not always just run) on 5 days of the week, & rest on 2.

Now some weeks you won’t be able to run 5 times. Life sometimes just does that. So set 5 days a week as your ideal.. your ‘OH MY GOD I AM SO COOL & FIT & GORGEOUS & I TOTALLY ROCK’ kind of week. The kind of week you celebrate with a long hot bath & a glass of wine & some nice crisps.

4 days a week would be pretty fab. 3 is just about OK. Less than 3 & that 5K is going to hurt, Lady.

I’m going to be realistic, & assume you’re going to manage 4 days a week. (If you do the extra one, tweet me @nomorexcuses & let me know so I can tell everyone about your gold star). The plan doesn’t specify which days you do what, as you will need to fit them in whenever possible, but try to spread your exercise / rest days out over the week if you can.

Of those 4 exercise sessions, you’re going to run on 3 of them. If you manage 5 days in a week, do an extra session of whichever option that week you enjoyed the most.

A really important feature of your 5K training programme is that you won’t always run the same distance. The reason for this is that if you just try to plod out your 5K (just over 3 miles) every time, all you’re doing is training your body to plod out 3 miles. You won’t have any reserves at all to cope with crowds, your sprint finish (let’s aim high ;) ) or the need to chat all the way around the course on the day.

You need to establish 3 running  ‘paces’ which will be totally personal to you & that correspond to:

Easy Pace (this could be a run or a run/walk) & on an exertion level of 1-10, is about 5

Race Pace: the steady jogging or running pace you hope to run your 5K at. Exertion level 6-7

Intervals Pace: more intensive, as you will be working in bursts for shorter periods rather than slow & steady. Exertion level 8/9

Please note this is a pretty intensive schedule which increases both distance & intensity fairly swiftly. In an ideal world, starting as a complete beginner, you’d want a 12 week preparation. But hey, since when did we live in an ideal world? Take it at your pace & don’t worry – running is supposed to be enjoyable! ;) (It’s also terribly good for you & bad for your mummy tummy…)

Week 1:

1. Walk/run 2 miles (easy pace)

2. Run 2 miles (race pace)

3. Interval training (intervals pace). IE for 20 minutes, you alternate running fast or skipping for 1 minute, with bodyweight resistance exercises. Maintain the more intensive level for the whole time

I am going to post this intervals session as a video tomorrow but wanted to get the basic programme up for you ASAP! Just leave the intervals & get on with the running if you like for a couple of days & check back or watch my tweets.

20-minute Interval Training Programme for Mums:

Warm Up 3 minutes

Cardio (race pace) 1 minute; 15 squats; Cardio 2 minutes; 15 Gecko‘s; Cardio 3 minutes (hard!); 15 Dynamic Planks; Cardio 3 minutes (hard); 1 minute Walking Lunges; Cool down 3 minutes

4. Walk/run 2 miles

Week 2:

1. Run 2 miles (Race Pace)

2. Run 3 miles (Easy)

3. Intervals

4. Run 2.5 miles (Race pace)

Week 3:

1. Run 3 miles (easy)

2. Run 2.5 miles (race pace)

3. Intervals

4. Run 3 miles (easy)

Week 4:

1. Run 3.5 miles (easy)

2. Run 3 miles (race pace)

3. Intervals

4. Run 3.5 miles (easy)

Week 5:

1. Run 3.5 miles (race pace, alternate with easy if necessary)

2. Run 3 miles (race pace)

3. Intervals

4. Walk/Run 4 miles (easy)

Week 6:

This is the week of the 5K.

Aim to do 1x intervals session, 1 x 3 miles (race pace) near the beginning of the week, then have a couple of days rest before running just an easy 2 miles the day before the race.

I’ll do a post on food in the next couple of days to help you plan your eating around your training if that helps?

Oh, & it’s of course an aside & not the reason you’ve signed up AT ALL… but you know if you follow this programme for the next 6 weeks, you might just notice a rather miraculous change in the size of your mummy tummy come race day…! :)

The Foods That Make (Or Keep) Your Mummy Tummy Fat

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You’ve been asking for bloated mummy tummy help, Lovely Ladies (you know who you are, *big kiss*)… & I aim to please, so…

Your Mummy Tummy is wobbly for a number of reasons, all of which you can find plenty of info on in this blog… To recap /summarise, if you want fat loss & a flat tummy after having babies:

This post is about mummy tummy fat & food & for the purposes of this post, a mummy tummy is no different to any other tummy.

Sure, if you eat way more food than your body needs, you will of course gain fat. But there’s a bit more to it than that, when you are storing excessive or disproportionate amounts of fat around your abdomen, & / or suffer from bloating.

Storing disproportionate fat around your middle is directly related to SUGAR, & how you manage the insulin level in your blood. Taken to the extreme, diseases like diabetes type 2 can be the result.

It can also be due to FOOD INTOLERANCE OR ALLERGY.

SUGAR & YOUR MUMMY TUMMY

First we need a little ‘science bit’, so concentrate ;) Insulin is a hormone our body produces to control the circulating sugar level in our blood. It is also a fat storage hormone. Storing fat is one of insulin’s jobs.  High levels of insulin in your blood make your body really, really *clever* at storing fat. The insulin will actually inhibit the breakdown of fat, so no matter how much you exercise, the flabby tummy remains.

Whenever we eat something, insulin is released to ensure that our blood sugar level doesn’t rise too high. The amount of insulin released depends upon the type of food that we eat – the more sugar, the more insulin is needed. This is not just about eating obvious sugar, like cakes, sweets or cookies, but any highly refined, starchy, carbohydrate foods such as white pasta, white bread, white rice, or alcohol.

As far as your body is concerned, any refined or simple carbohydrate is pure sugar, & the same chemical reaction will take place when you eat or drink it.

Carbohydrate-rich foods serve as our main source of energy, & are ESSENTIAL, especially for a busy mother with many demands on her time & energy, & definitely if you’re breastfeeding. You’re SHOULD NOT cut out all carbs. But you really should cut out bad carbs.

Your consumption of carbs should be in the form of whole-grains, fruits & vegetables. If there is no alternative but to use white pasta or rice, ensure that there is a good level of protein (beans, eggs, fish, meat) in the same meal to help balance your blood sugar level.

We commonly think of fat as the problem when it comes to being fat, but actually sugar is the real enemy. Sugar, in all its forms & including alcohol, is empty calories, plain & simple.

Stress, caffeine & skipping meals are also major culprits. All of these things create stress hormones & trigger the release of further glucose from your liver into your blood stream. More glucose (ie more sugar)… more insulin… more fat.

Stress could be ‘life’ stress, but it could also be ‘body’ stress caused by eating rubbish foods, not drinking enough water or not getting enough sleep.

The whole process of releasing insulin starts all over again…and you didn’t even eat!

FOOD INTOLERANCE OR ALLERGY

Firstly, an intolerance is not the same as an allergy. If you are allergic to a particular food, it will cause an immediate (or within an hour of eating), acute reaction. This is likely to be itching in the mouth, difficulty breathing or swallowing, followed by vomiting, diarrhea & abdominal pain. It is an abnormal, immune response to certain food (such as peanuts, shellfish or milk). Less than 3% of adults & 6-8% of children have clinically proven, true allergic reactions to food.

A food intolerance is much more prevalent, & is defined by a difficulty or inability to digest certain foods. This is usually due to insufficient digestive enzymes in the intestine. It doesn’t affect the immune system & is rarely life threatening. Unabsorbed foods cause gas, bloating and cramping, particularly if large quantities of the food is eaten. Common offenders are milk products, wheat or other gluten-containing grains.

A bloated or gas-filled intestine will appear as a distended & enlarged abdomen… so if you thank you may be intolerant to certain foods, simply try cutting them out. Only cut out one food at a time (otherwise you won’t know what caused the reaction) & see if you feel any different after a week. If there is no difference, re-introduce the food & try something else. The western diet typically includes excessive amounts of wheat & dairy products anyway, so going without for a few days will certainly not do you any harm.

Struggling with what to buy? Try different grains such as spelt (an ancient form of wheat, but much more digestible), buckwheat, oats or rye instead of wheat. (Note that many grains contain gluten, including some of the above  – try just avoiding actual processed wheat first, all glutens may not be a problem).

Think you can’t do without dairy? Oat milk or rice milk are alternatives for drinking or for muesli or porridge. Please note, oat or rice milks are NOT a replacement for infant or breast milk for young children.

Goat & sheep’s milks, yoghurts & cheeses are more digestible than cow’s milk products for many people. Green vegetables, almonds, parsley, beans or the other dairy sources above (i.e. not cow) are all great sources of calcium, so don’t get too hung up on that either.

Get your protein from pulses, beans, fish, lean meat, nuts & nut butters like cashew & almond butters which are lovely & less ‘claggy’ than peanut. (Whole Earth is a brilliant peanut butter brand). Don’t go mad on soya products – you won’t be protein deficient without cow’s milk, I promise.

Try the alternatives, you may even like them. And you may even see a rather miraculous change in the shape of your tummy ;)

Postnatal Fat Loss & No More Mummy Tummy! Top Tips

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As the No More Mummy Tummy Masterclass gathers pace with shiny new venues in SW London, I’m giving away (just some, obviously!) of my postnatal exercise & fat loss secrets to tempt you over at Cafe Bebe.

Karin is the brilliant Mummy Blogger at Cafe Bebe (Martha Stewart follows her on Twitter don’t-you-know!). She is on a Mummy Tummy Begone challenge, following my tummy guidelines & has stoically taking up running with the help of Marathon Mummy blogger Rachael.

Will you join in the challenge? Postnatal fat loss is never easy, so let us know how you’re doing, & of course if you’d like to book a No More Mummy Tummy Masterclass in SW london (sorry I can’t cover more than that yet :( )

Tell your tummy its days are numbered…

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