Gluten free dairy free chocolate cake

We recently celebrated my birthday & my daughter Laura very kindly baked a delicious chocolate cake. As the recipe is for a Gluten free dairy free chocolate cake, it means our entire family can enjoy it. Knowing how hard it can be to get a good recipe for a dairy free, gluten free chocolate cake, Laura wanted to share this tried & tested recipe with you. We hope you like it as much as we did. Ingredients for Gluten free dairy free chocolate cake 75g cocoa powder 137ml boiling water 150g softened butter (Dairy free) 400g caster sugar 262g self raising flour 1 1/2 tsp baking powder 1/4 tsp xanthan gum 4 eggs, beaten 187ml almond milk For the icing 150g dark chocolate 250g butter (dairy free) 250g icing sugar Pinch of salt Method for making Gluten free dairy free chocolate cake Pre-heat oven to 170°c Grease 2 round baking tins Sift cocoa into a large bowl. Add boiling water and butter, mix until smooth Pour in the caster sugar, self raising flour, baking powder & xanthan gum Mix the eggs & milk into the dry items, making a smooth batter Pour into cake tins Bake for approximately 40 mins Remove from the oven and allow to cool While your cake is cooking prepare the icing – begin by putting chocolate into bowl over a pan of boiling water to melt In a large bowl, place butter and icing sugar and mix well until combined Add melted chocolate and mix Once cake is cooled, spread between layers, top as desired and enjoy If you are unsure of how to change your eating habits, or need help optimising the foods you eat please do contact us. We would love to help you or your family and friends with any nutrition related queries big or small. In the meantime do please check out our 121Dietitian Shop If you have enjoyed this blog we would love you to share this with your family and friends on your social media channels. Why not visit our YouTube Channel for more on keeping your health optimal. How can a Dietitian help with healthy Gluten and Dairy free foods Book a consultation via our Online Portal About Gillian Killiner  Check out our tailored dietary programmes Gillian x [instagram-feed] Information checked & correct on 16th May 2018 and 1st January 2023.

Reduce the risk of prostate cancer with dietary changes

Reduce the risk of prostate cancer. In recent years, more and more research has been devoted to the link between diet and prostate cancer and reducing its likelihood with dietary changes. Every year in the UK, 35,000 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer, resulting in one fatality every hour. What we do currently know about the condition is that men are more likely to get it if they are over the age of 60, have a family history of prostate cancer or are of African decent. Furthermore, Asian men are less likely than Western men to develop this cancer form but those who have migrated to Western countries are found to develop the same risk as those who have been there their entire lives. What this suggests is that there are in fact some fixed factors which increase the risk of prostate cancer, so much so that the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) is continuing research into the link between lifestyle factors and prostate cancer. However, until these finding have concluded and been published, based on the current consensus science, the following tips can play a role in protection against most types of cancer, including prostate cancer. Here, we take a look at the diet and lifestyle changes you can make in order to reduce the risk of prostate cancer Maintain a healthy weight through the principle of keeping active and eating a healthy, balanced diet. Moderately exercising for just 30 minutes a day is recommended. If your busy lifestyle doesn’t permit this, try shorter sessions throughout the day. Aim for a healthy BMI of between 18.5 and 25. Not sure what your BMI currently is? Check out this handy calculator on our website here. When it comes to your diet, one which is varied and balanced containing the right proportions from the five food groups is essential. Use the above plate as a guide on your daily food intake. As a good indicator, at each mealtime, fill half your plate with fruit and vegetables, a quarter with protein and a quarter with starchy carbohydrates. Up your water intake to the recommended 6 – 8 glasses of fluid per day, one of which can be a small serving of fruit juice. Limit sugar-laden drinks to special occasions only. Ensure your diet is rich in whole grain food options, aiming for the recommended 3 portions of 16g wholegrain products per day. As a guide, one portion = x2 heaped tbsp brown rice, or x1 medium slice wholemeal bread or x3 tbsp wholegrain rice, or 1/2 a wholemeal pita bread. Ensure your daily intake of fruit and veg is high, striving for 7 portions per day. This is the equivalent of 1 medium apple, 3 dates, half a grapefruit, 2 small tangerines, 1/3 aubergine, 3 heaped tbsp carrots or 1 heaped tbsp tomato puree or a handful of mangetout. Limit your trans fat intake, keeping within the recommended guidance for 70g of fat and keep processed saturated fat low. Small tips to help with this include, for example, trimming fat from meat, cooking with healthier fats such as olive oil and upping your intake of nuts, seeds and avocados as healthier fat options. Reduce your sugar intake but keep below the recommended 30g per day with simple steps such as cutting down on sugary treats including cakes, biscuits and snack foods, limit your intake of fruit juice and fizzy soda, replacing with water or low sugar squash varieties and halve the amount of sugar consumed in tea, coffee, cereal, cooking and baking where possible. These simple steps will go a long way in preserving your future health and you’ll be surprised at how quickly your palate gets used to it. Be aware of hidden salt and keep to 6g per day. Swap the addition of salt while cooking for herbs and spices. These are a fab alternative and there are so many tasty choices out there, so get experimental and creative when cooking. Ditch the processed meals which are high in salt, instead aiming to cook simple meals from raw ingredients. It’s amazing how quickly a healthy and tasty meal can be prepared. Check out, for example, our Incredible Hulk Cannelloni recipe here. Finally to r educe the risk of prostate cancer, get up to speed on food labelling systems in order to choose foods that are low in fats (<3p per 100g fat, <1.5 saturated fat per 100g), sugar (<5g per 100g) and salt (<0.3g per 100g). For more information on prostate problems. If you are unsure of how to change your eating habits, or need help optimising the foods you eat please do contact us. We would love to help you or your family and friends with any nutrition related queries big or small. In the meantime do please check out our 121Dietitian Shop If you have enjoyed this blog we would love you to share this with your family and friends on your social media channels. Why not visit our YouTube Channel for more on keeping your health optimal. How can a Dietitian help reduce the risk of prostate cancer Book a consultation via our Online Portal About Gillian Killiner  Check out our tailored dietary programmes Gillian x [instagram-feed] Information checked & correct on 16th May 2018 and 1st January 2023.

Incredible Hulk Recipe – Cannelloni Style

This Incredible Hulk Recipe – Cannelloni Style, is a fab way to use all the greens that you may not be keen on! Normally cannelloni is made with just spinach however adding variety with other greens allows you to consume a wider range of nutrients without compromising on flavour. All cruciferous vegetables (cabbage family) contain cancer-fighting plant compounds and vitamin C. Kale in particular also has bone-boosting vitamin K, vision- and immune-boosting vitamin A, and even anti-inflammatory omega-3 fatty acids. The rest of the ingredients in the Incredible Hulk Recipe need a mention too! Tomatoes are tasty and a wonderful source of lycopene and cancer fighting antioxidant. But the benefits don’t just end there. Tomatoes provide: vitamin A, vitamin K, vitamins B1, B3, B5, B6, B7, excellent vitamin C, folate, iron, potassium, magnesium, chromium, choline, zinc, and phosphorus. The tomatoes I used for this recipe were home-grown from excess surplus from our green house! Ricotta cheese provides excellent protein, calcium, phosphorus, Zinc, Vitamin B1, B12 and Vitamin A. If you are worried about excess fats (which by the way because this recipe is natural not processed you shouldn’t be!), you can add a tub of quark in instead. Incredible Hulk Recipe Ingredients – Cannelloni Style Olive oil/coconut oil 1 -2 onions/asafoetida powder* 1 small cabbage  1/2 bag of kale 1 broccoli head* Ricotta/quark or lacto free cream cheese* or vegan soft cheese Pasta – wholemeal (gluten free) lasagne sheets to roll or cannelloni rolls 1-2 cans of chopped tomatoes or 500ml passata (can add or include garlic*, olives, basil, peppers, chilli peppers/flakes) Hard cheese to top (parmesan or vegan cheese) More fresh basil leaves to top  Large salad for serving: Spinach, cucumber, peppers, spring onion*, beetroot… your choice! How to make the Incredible Hulk Recipe Heat the oil in a large pan sauté the onions till brown and sweet or add asafoetida powder Take 1 small head of green cabbage, 1/2 bag of kale and 1 small head of broccoli roughly chop Add to the cooked onions and heat for 10 minutes Take off the heat and add the soft cheese or alternative Blitz in a blender Take the cannelloni tubes or cooked lasagne sheets and generously fill these with the green mix Place these into a oven proof dish, when complete top with the tins of tomatoes/ passata and any additional flavours for taste and spice! Top with sprinkle of parmasan Cook at 180c for 25-30 minutes Serve with 1/2 plate covered in salad This menu has been adapted for Fodmaps and coeliacs. If you are unsure of how to change your eating habits, or need help optimising the foods you eat please do contact us. We would love to help you or your family and friends with any nutrition related queries big or small. In the meantime do please check out our 121Dietitian Shop If you have enjoyed this blog we would love you to share this with your family and friends on your social media channels. Why not visit our YouTube Channel for more on keeping your health optimal. How can a Dietitian help Book a consultation via our Online Portal About Gillian Killiner  Check out our tailored dietary programmes Gillian x [instagram-feed] Information checked & correct on 16th May 2018 and 1st January 2023

Prediabetes & Diabetes

Prediabetes? What is this? Prediabetes is a condition where blood sugar levels are higher than normal but not yet high enough to be classified as type 2 diabetes. This stage is a warning sign that you’re at increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and stroke. Typically, prediabetes does not present noticeable symptoms, making it crucial to monitor blood glucose levels through regular health check-ups. Lifestyle changes such as a healthy diet, regular exercise, and maintaining a healthy weight can help manage and reduce the risk of progressing to type 2 diabetes Shocking Statistic: 1 in every 2 people have prediabetes in the UK.   Risk Factors Obesity A first-degree relative with diabetes Ethnicity: South Asian, Chinese, African-Caribbean and black African. Increasing age The area where someone lives – lower-income groups Presentation Patients with raised blood sugars also known as “impaired glucose tolerance” usually have no symptoms This rise in blood sugars can be after fasting and after eating The risk for cardiovascular disease may be present even with a small rise in blood sugars. These risks include hypertension (high blood pressure), obesity, dyslipidemia (high cholesterol, etc.), and macrovascular diseases such as stroke, coronary disease, or peripheral vascular disease Testing for prediabetes This is either having a fasting plasma glucose test or an HbA1c test, both are used to diagnose type 2 diabetes or prediabetes. The following results indicate the presence of prediabetes: Fasting plasma glucose: 6.0 mmol/L to 6.9 mmol/L HbA1c: 42 to 47 mmol/mol (6.0 to 6.4%) If your results are above the upper limits for prediabetes, your GP may either diagnose you with type 2 diabetes or take another test to confirm whether you have diabetes. If you have symptoms of diabetes but have an HbA1c of below 42 mmol/mol (6.0%), you may be given an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). If you are diagnosed with prediabetes, your doctor should clearly set out the steps you need to take to lower your risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Can I stop prediabetes from developing into type 2 diabetes? YES!!!  The good news is that cases of prediabetes that are identified early on can be reversed, preventing them from progressing into full-blown type 2 diabetes. Each year in the UK, 5% to 10% of people diagnosed with prediabetes go on to develop type 2 diabetes. The two principal factors for consideration are: Making changes to your diet and Appropriate physical exercise to your lifestyle By making these changes, blood sugar levels can be returned to normal. At 121 Dietitian we help people daily by improving their blood sugar control improving their health and well-being. If you have been diagnosed by your GP with prediabetes then please do not hesitate to book a program to reverse your chances of going on to developing type 2 diabetes. If you do have a diagnosis of Type 2 Diabetes and need advice with your diet and health we would be delighted to assist you also. Book Prediabetes Programme Book Diabetes Programme

Hashimoto’s and me – part 2…

For me I could not imagine how I would be coping if I had not been able to recover my health after my Hashimoto’s Hypothyroidism diagnosis. Well sorry for the very long pause, things always happen when you least expect them. My mother who is disabled with MS was in a car accident and badly broke her leg in June. This meant all my extra time outside of work and family was directed at her care and attention and to keep her mentally strong. It is an ongoing slow process but she is getting there. To get to the level I am at now did take a big decision as I was, pre 2010, not an ‘elimination of foods’  Dietitian! My motto was to increase food choice and enhance variety in all my patients diets (obviously not those with allergies and specific ill health but the people who required help with healthy eating). The big leap was that I removed gluten from my diet, and I can only say I am happy I did. My symptoms like constipation and skin irritation did not change greatly but I knew it was scientifically worth the change – even if removal was to prove it was the wrong path, I could save my patients from  possibly making the decision. It is 2 years since I made the change and I am continuing with this. I feel the scientific evidence is there and unfolding at present there is not enough research written up and so I will continue this route while I await further results to unfold. If you are unsure of how to change your eating habits, or need help optimising the foods you eat please do contact us. We would love to help you or your family and friends with any nutrition related queries big or small. In the meantime do please check out our 121Dietitian Shop If you have enjoyed this blog we would love you to share this with your family and friends on your social media channels. Why not visit our YouTube Channel for more on keeping your health optimal. How can a Dietitian help Book a consultation via our Online Portal About Gillian Killiner  Check out our tailored dietary programmes Gillian x [instagram-feed] Information checked & correct on 16th May 2018.

Hashimoto’s and me……. Part 1

I have been planning to write about Hashimoto’s Hypothyroidism for quite some time, but somehow I haven’t been able to pick the right moment or feel the time was right. This year has seen big changes for me and I have consciously been trying to rebalance my life. The last few weeks has really pushed me into feeling the time is right to write. In my youth,  I thought I was invincible, I tried to be everything to everyone, I empathised and sympathized with others on their poor health or misfortunes and tried to rebuild or improve them, but never in a million years thought that ill health could happen to me. My lack of truly listening to my body over many years caught me out, and with a family history of auto-immune disorders I regret now this stubborn inner me. However, as I live with a chronic auto-immune condition I feel that if anything positive has come out of it, is that it has really allowed me to understand my patients at a level deeper than ever imaginable before. Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, for those unfamiliar with this condition, is in which the body’s own immune cells attack and destroy the thyroid gland. There can be up to 300 different symptoms and so there can be many of these symptoms that cross over into other illnesses. It can be slow progressing for some and so blood test may not detect it in the early stages making lives unpleasant with symptoms and no answers. Hypothyroidism is the most common outcome for a Hashimoto’s sufferer and medication is used to help treat this condition end of story.  That is what I was taught when learning about the Thyroid at Uni and during my hospital career. Take a tablet and all will be fine, next…. NOW I KNOW THAT SADLY THIS IS NOT ALWAYS THE CASE…. My Story is a common classic: I had not been to the GP in years, I had no time and no reason to see him, I had strangely and uncharacteristically booked to get my Vitamin D checked mainly due my Dietetic curiosity with the media hype. Don’t get me wrong I had felt rubbish for years but put that down to long hours running my business, caring for 3 small kids, getting older and was involved weekly in caring for my disabled mother. My husband, a fabulous man, was hardly around with his job. I was a “no time for me person” to whom I used to say if I met someone like this: If you don’t look after your health you will have “plenty of time in the future”, as you won’t be able to work! A total Hypocrite I know. I just did not see it for myself or maybe I chose to ignore it. I remember when my blood panel came back I was shocked and if honest relieved. I was not surprised that something showed up and that all my symptoms that I tried to ignore or had secretly stressed about were valid. In addition to a Hashimoto’s diagnosis I had a very low Vitamin D level and suboptimal levels of B12. My diagnosis was in Dec 2012 and I thought that was it, all fixed. I was commenced on Levothyroxine and I slowly built up the dose as guided by my GP and I sat back and waited to get better. Did I feel better?  Psychologically maybe a little as I started to take more interest in myself and others around me had to also consider my health. However this feeling did not last long; 4 weeks later and I was worse and so the GP increased the tablets and so the story went on until my bloods were in NORMAL range but I was feeling worse than ever. My GP made an urgent appointment for me with an Endocrinologist who assessed me and said “go take a holiday”. OMG I didn’t see that coming. I was hoping to be taken seriously but clearly I was not ill on the small panel of thyroid blood tests taken and so it had to be in my head….any of you who have been there will know the score. From that moment onwards, as best I could, I did my research. I was so unwell I did not see how I could make it to my next birthday: I was 1 month away. Some major symptoms: severe headache like a vice, walking in concrete, mixing up words, brain fog, exhaustion not able to get out of the car to lift my kids or shop, back pain, chest pain, lots of sighing, brittle nails and hair, skin on chin irritated, sensitive teeth and gums, low moods, insomnia, tearful, constipation, freezing cold, heart palpitations….my adrenal glands were struggling too. I bought a medical thyroid book book which was a great starting point and I commenced the recommendations. I know you would think that as a Dietitian I would be an expert in nutrition, which I am! but the subject of auto-immune and supplements was lacking in my knowledge and so all news was new and I ate it all up. (With these new skills I now successfully treat patients today) Anyway; I took a summer holiday with my family but sadly as a shadow of my former self in vitality, stamina and energy. Sitting at 40c I was cold and wrapped up, but the headaches were gone and that was one step in the right direction. I came home from my holiday and began to fix myself further. I joined the Health Unlocked forum which again has been instrumental in my recovery. I requested further blood tests and from this I commenced a medication which had a combination of T4 and active T3. This along with the daily regimen of supplements made a noticeable difference and some of the significant symptoms began to settle. At the same time I made a difficult but important decision that I