Benjamin Richardson
Nutritionist
Thursday 25th September 12.00-13.00
Benjamin is a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner and BANT Registered Nutritionist.
As a life-long semi-professional athlete himself, Benjamin has a particular focus on supporting clients body composition, function and exercise or cognitive performance goals. He also specialises in men's health, and health optimisation, and consideration of interventions such as ketogenic and carnivore diets and forms of fasting when these are aligned with clients goals.
Benjamin practices virtually, via Programme Wellness, and also as part of The Healing Hub based in Canary Wharf, London, where the rest of the team are mental health professionals. Given the enormous contribution that diet and lifestyle medicine can make to brain health and mental health, this is a powerful combination.
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As a coeliac, also with Raynaud's, Benjamin has direct experience of chronic health issues himself, so in addition to his focus areas, he enjoys working with clients with issues such as poor digestion, Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), food sensitivities and intolerances, fatigue and low energy including chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), prediabetes and poor sleep. Currently he is excited to be learning how to use Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I) since a significant number of his clients struggle with poor sleep.
Talk: Cacao, chocolate and the microbiome
Much is written about the health benefits of chocolate. We would love it to be true, but is it?
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Lets understand together:
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Why might cacao and chocolate provide health benefits?
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What enables cacao and chocolate to affect our gut bacteria?
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Does chocolate selectively support gut bacteria which are health supporting, over those which are not?
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If you supply your gut bacteria with cacao and chocolate what will they do for *you* in return?
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If chocolate has positive effects on blood pressure, insulin sensitivity, cardiometabolic health & reduced inflammation, how much of this is thanks to gut bacteria?
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Can your gut bacteria influence your desire to eat more chocolate?
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Is all chocolate equal in its potential for positive effects?
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Ending with the practical takeaways, let's talk about the details and dosing! What kinds of cacao or chocolate? How much? How often? Paired with what?
