Live webchat with nutritionist Jane Clarke, Tues 8 Feb, 12.30pm-1.30pm. UPDATE - Jane returning to answer questions she missed tonight - Tuesday 15th Feb 7.30

[GeraldineMumsnet]

We're delighted that nutritionist Jane Clarke is joining us for a webchat at 12.30pm on Tues 8 Feb.

Jane, who is a qualified dietitian, says her mission is to change people's lives through the power of nourishment.

Her latest book, Nourish, explains nutritional needs at every stage of life - children, teens, adulthood, pregnancy, middle age and over-60s.

She runs two dietetic practices (her specialist practice assists patients who have cancer and their families) and advises some of Britain's leading sportspeople.

Grab this opportunity to quiz an expert nutritionist, and join Jane on Tuesday. But if the timing doesn't work for you, post your question here as usual.

Hello Jane.

I cook most things from scratch and we eat all of our meals together. We have lots of seasonal food, lots of fresh fruit and vegetables and bread and pasta (on the whole) tends to be brown. We don't have any fizzy drinks, it's either milk or fruit juice.

What I want to ask relates to my DS' (aged 9 and 4) intake of sugar. They probably eat one or two sweet things a day. Usually I try to keep it down to a smallish thing but I see other parents restrict their children's intake of sugar and wonder if I should do the same.

My children are fit and healthy. They are very tall and lean and do massive amounts of exercise every week. They have active lifestyles probably more akin to children twenty years ago than kids who sit at a computer all the time. DS1 (aged 9) has an enormous appetite. I mean truly enormous

I think there is no problem as they need the calories to burn off and clean their teeth regularly.

Am I doing the wrong thing? After all, we were allowed sugar when we were children and weren't fat.

Could the reason I am often tired and need naps be that my diet is lacking in something, or even that I don't drink enough water? I have had blood tests and am neither anaemic nor diabetic. Many Thanks.

I have been following the Pig to Twig diet for 3 months and have lost 16lbs with 2 further stone to lose. For the last few days I have been feeling sick, faint and out of it. Finger prick test was 3.6. Blood pressure fine. I ate well. Lots of meat, fish, leaves, cheese with my daily treat of sugar free jelly and double cream. What am I doing wrong and what can I do in the future? TIA.

I suffer terribly with PMT and was wondering whether there was anything in my diet that was making it worse or conversely, whether there was anything diet-wise that could help.

Also (I know MNHQ, sorry ), ds has gone into Y7 and I'm finding his activity levels have plummeted but his appetite has increased (and he's now looking ever so slightly plump). Trouble is, he has a card for his school dinners but is opting for high carb stuff (wraps, bread, cookies etc) and is then coming home and veering towards the biscuit tin. Is this a normal thing at this age i.e. he needs more carbs for a growth spurt or something? Or is he just greedy?? Can you give me some quick snack ideas for ravenous 12 year olds and also recommend a snack bar that is the least worst option IYKWIM for break times?

Thank you very much

Healthy snack ideas I should have said, ideally that he could fix easily himself when coming in from school.

Jane. At 48 years I am returning to exercise. I think I've got my diet all wrong before exercise.I often feel constipated &/or farty
I also have Fibroids.

Q1 Can you give me some tips on what to eat on a day I plan to go to the gym.
I will be going after work at about 6pm on somedays. On another around 10am. I swim on a Friday at about 5pm.
Q2 What should I eat?
Q3 At what time?

really grateful for a reply Sorry I can't log on on the day as I'll be at work.

Hello.
DD2 is 12 and hasn't eaten a fruit or vegetable since she was 1. How she hasn't got scurvy is a mystery,

over the years we have tried the usual tasting, blending, hiding, bribery, with no success at all.

She only eats beige stuff (carbs, chicken, rubbish) and possibly has aspergers.

Any ideas?

Hi Jane,
I have a seemingly healthy diet, fruit or veg at every meal, I don't cut out any food groups and try to have a balance of thirds on my plate.

However, I am a very windy person (both ends) and I get huge cramps from time always in the same place - just slightly in from my right hip bone.

I haven't yet managed to work out what it could be.. any tips?

Jane,are you concerned about disreputable nutritionists/nutrition therapist who are not HPC registered dietitians and give bad advice

Jane ....any tips for incorporating more fruit into ds's diet. He will eat peeled pears and sometimes apples (he prefers them cooked) but that is it! No grapes, melon, oranges etc. I have tried frozen fruit, dried fruit. His sister will eat most fruit so it is always around but he abstains ;(

  Also I have anaemia that has not improved for years.....do you have any tips to improve iron intake. I eat dried apricots and have a juicer so sometimes juice beetroot.

Thanks in advance x

hello Jane
do you have any of your own TV shows in the pipeline ..... thank you

Hi Jane

Unfortunately I won't be online when you are on this webchat but I would really appreciate your advice.

My DH has advanced prostate cancer (spread to lymph nodes & widespread bone metastases). He has been to the Penny Brohn clinc and we are trying to follow the Bristol Diet to help him as much as we can. Unfortuantely he sometimes struggles to eat due to his illness and treatment. I cook everything from scratch for him, with lots of lentils, vegetables, (little) fish and occasional chicken. He has totally cut out diary from his diet and has now started to eat gluten free bread.

What other advice would you give? In your experience is this diet helpful? If so, how can it help? Is there anything else I could be doing to help him? He sometimes (actually, frequently) finds food very difficult to digest. Do you have any advice on how better this could be managed?

I know my husband's cancer will not be cured, but what can help to make him more comfortable and his life more bearable?

MNHQ, I understand that I have asked more than one question, but I'm desperate.

Hi Jane,

I am Vegan and my son is 21 months and also Vegan. Am I really doing him some serious harm as my family seem to suggest?

Our diet is very well balanced (I believe) but he is slow to gain weight and smaller then average. Is this because of his diet? He seems perfectly healthy to me and is rarely ill.

Thanks :)

my son is an athlete - swimmer - and completes at county level. He is 11. Given that he is an athlete and also just about to hit puberty, how should I be adjusting his diet. AT the moment we struggle to fill him, even with carbs and plenty of sugar. He eats a wide variety of fruit and veg, plenty of dairy (esp after swimming) and is a committed carnivore.

Our diets are fat rich also (butter, cream etc) as everyone but me are skinny malinkies.

Any advice on feeding athletic kids and skinny kids?

How can we convince schools that introduce overly restrictive rules are unnesessary. For example, I have a problem with them removing food from lunch boxes based on a silly set of nutritional rules.

Hello Jane, I have read one of your books a long while ago, and found it very useful. I am wondering if you have any advice on how to overcome sugar addiction. I can't eat one biscuit - I eat 10. Should I be cutting out refined sugar completely?

Hello Jane

I have been left gluten and dairy intolerant by treatment for cancer, and have a colostomy. The latter means I have to make sure I don't eat too much fibre either. I used to eat lots of nuts, beans, lentils and pulses and I now find these a bit too windy (which can be uncomfortable as well as a tad on the noisy side).

Any suggestions of healthy, gluten-free, dairy-free, low-fibre sources or protein for me? I'm not a big fan of red meat ;). Are there any beans, pulses or grains which are easier to tolerate?

And a I can only have one question I'd like to back up Rindercella's question about your views on the Bristol diet.

Hello Jane,
My Ds aged 3.5 is having some assessments for autism, but the problem we're trying to get help with at the moment is his constant runny poo. He has recently had some blood tests for food allergies and all came back normal. He does have a peanut allergy.
He has very runny poo at least 3 times a day, on a bad day (like last week)7/8 times a day. We are trying to toilet train and this makes it impossible.

I have been googling toddler diarrhoea but find advice contradictory. He does not have undigested food in his poo, it's just a diarrhoea consistency.
Any advice on what to do? What to try to eliminate/increase/avoid? He eats lots of bread (toast, sandwiches) and dairy (milk,cheese) but is otherwise very healthy. Please help? Thanks

I really wish you had put 'dietitian' in the title, rather than 'nutritionist'. Given that one is a regulated profession and one is something that you can call yourself on a whim.

My question for Jane is to ask what she thinks about people who call themselves 'nutritionists'?

Hi Jane, many thanks for the book Body Foods for women it started me on my journey to try and manage PCOS to try and conceive, dd nearly 6 now

now I will need inspiration to keep and gain new habits to avoid Diabetes in middle age

any ideas? inspiration? things I should really keep in mind?

it is hard work keeping to the low carb route by I guess it is still the best was?

Hi Jane,

my best friend was treated by a specialist in nutrition after a cancer diagnosis. She survived nine months and then sadly died.

I cannot help but feel that in her desperate situation she was obviously unlikely to benefit from conventional medicine or dietary changes, and she made extreme dietary changes on the advice of this person - so I think really he ought not have taken the money of her family and given her and them false hope that she might be cured.

I am wondering what your thoughts are in terms of treating cancer patients with a dire prognosis - should one tell then that they are likely to be cured, as a positive reinforcement, or should one tell them honestly that they might feel less sick on a certain diet but it will not save them?

Apologies for the dark tone of my question; it has been bothering me an awful lot.

Thankyou.

I asked a question earlier but I've just realised who you are (from the telly )

I've a personal question. Feel free to ignore but I remember you adopted a daughter from India. I recall you talking about her and it seemed like a lovely story Just wondered how you both are? As I said, feel free to ignore

I just wanted to say that as a Dietitian I so pleased that Mumsnet are using a credible person and not a 'nutritionist' . Like Trilian I wish you had put it in the title thought.

Nutritionists are entirely unregulated where dietitians have studied between 4 and 6 years at uni with clinical placements and are HPC regulated to only provide evidence based advice.

Well done mumsnet and Jane for raising the profile of Dietitians.

Hi Jane

I have Psoriasis and advised to reduce dairy. I don't really have that much dairy other than tea or coffee.

Please can you advise what other foods would be good to eat. Or any supplements.

Thanks You

Jane - DS1 is in reception at school and appears to be subsisting on cheese and pickle sandwiches and diluted juice for lunch during the week (as its what he asks for each day) and a balanced meal with protein, carbs, veg and fruit or yoghurt for pudding in the evenings. I'm trying to get him to branch out but what would your suggestions be for an ideal (nutrition wise) lunchbox lunch for a primary school age child?