Virginia Richardson Nutrition

Virginia Richardson Nutrition At Virginia Richardson Ltd. we want you to feel good and love the food you eat.

Author & Nutritional Therapist helping you improve gut health, balance hormones and boost energy with simple, evidence-based nutrition.
✨ Creator of Nourish & Flourish Online Course
🎁 Free Gut Health Guide on Website
Book Link: https://amzn.eu/d/29OSA1b We give you no nonsense nutritional advice that's easy to follow and that you'll love.

03/09/2026

Before I count your calories, I want to know what else is going on. 👀

Are you eating enough protein?
Are you getting enough fibre and plants?
Are you resistance training?
And perhaps most importantly, how much of your day are you actually moving?

You can exercise for an hour and still spend most of the day sitting.

🏋️ Give your muscles a reason to stick around.
🚶‍♀️ Walk every day.
🪑 Break up long periods of sitting.
🌱 Nourish your body rather than simply trying to eat less.

Calories matter. But they’re only part of the picture.

🧠 ↔️ 🦠 Ever noticed that your gut seems to know you're stressed before you do?Butterflies before something important. An...
02/09/2026

🧠 ↔️ 🦠 Ever noticed that your gut seems to know you're stressed before you do?

Butterflies before something important. An urgent trip to the loo when you're anxious. Bloating during a stressful week. Or perhaps your digestion seems to grind to a halt altogether.

There's a genuine physiological reason for this.

Your brain and digestive system are in constant two-way communication through the gut-brain axis, involving your nervous system, stress hormones, immune system and even signals produced by your gut microbes.

When we're under stress, these systems can influence:

💨 Gut motility
🚽 Bowel habits
😣 How sensitive we are to sensations in the gut
🔥 Digestive symptoms
🛡️ Intestinal barrier function

And this is particularly relevant in IBS, which is now described as a disorder of gut-brain interaction. Importantly, that does not mean IBS is “all in your head”.

The symptoms are very real. It simply recognises that digestion isn't controlled by the gut in isolation. This is also why, when someone comes to me with bloating, constipation, diarrhoea or other digestive symptoms, I don't immediately start removing foods.

I want to understand what else is happening in their life and body too.

How are they sleeping?
How stressed are they?
Are they rushing meals?
What are their bowel habits like?
What medications are they taking?
Are they moving regularly?

Sometimes supporting digestion means working on what's on the plate. Sometimes it also means supporting the nervous system around it.

🌳 Walking outside, eating more slowly, breathing practices, Pilates or yoga, protecting sleep and making time for social connection may all form part of that bigger picture.

Your gut talks to your brain. Your brain talks to your gut. That's why gut health is about so much more than food. 💚

🍂 September’s Nutrition Notes have gone out!If you’re on my mailing list, check your inbox for this month’s newsletter 📩...
01/09/2026

🍂 September’s Nutrition Notes have gone out!

If you’re on my mailing list, check your inbox for this month’s newsletter 📩

This month we’re talking about getting back into a healthy routine after summer, with simple nutrition tips, a delicious autumn recipe, and a look at why stress can sometimes feel harder to manage during perimenopause.

Not signed up yet? You can join my mailing list via my website (https://virginiarichardson.co.uk/) just scroll to the bottom of the homepage and enter your details.

Hope you enjoy this month’s edition! 💚

01/09/2026

🥦 One of my easiest healthy-eating shortcuts? Cook MORE than you need.

Healthy eating is so much easier when you open the fridge and part of your next meal is already done.

If I’m roasting vegetables, I’ll often make a big tray rather than just enough for one meal.

Think:

🍆 Aubergine
🫑 Peppers
🧅 Red onion
🥒 Courgette
🍅 Tomatoes
🧄 Garlic
🫒 Extra virgin olive oil
🌿 Plenty of herbs and spices

Then you’ve got the beginnings of several meals without feeling as though you’re eating the same thing every day.

🍽️ Dinner: add chicken, salmon or another protein plus potatoes or wholegrains.

🥗 Lunch: add lentils or chickpeas, leaves and a little feta.

🍝 Quick dinner: stir through wholegrain pasta with your choice of protein.

🥣 Or: blitz the leftovers into a soup or sauce.

And nutritionally, it’s such a simple way to get more vegetables, more fibre and greater plant diversity into your week.

No complicated Sunday meal prep.
No rows of identical plastic containers. 😂

Just cook once and make life a little easier for yourself later.

Because one of the biggest secrets to eating well consistently isn’t having more willpower, it’s making the healthier choice the easier choice.

🌱 One tray. More plants. Less prep. Less waste.

What’s the one thing you always cook extra of?

🚫 MYTH MONDAY: “I’ve overdone it this summer… I need a detox.”September often feels like a fresh start and with it comes...
31/08/2026

🚫 MYTH MONDAY: “I’ve overdone it this summer… I need a detox.”

September often feels like a fresh start and with it comes all the usual messages about detoxing, cleansing and undoing the damage of summer.

But your body doesn't need a juice cleanse, detox tea or 3-day fast. You already have a sophisticated detoxification system working around the clock.

Your liver transforms substances so they can be processed and eliminated. Your kidneys filter your blood and remove waste through urine. Your digestive system helps eliminate waste through your bowel, while your lungs also remove waste products such as carbon dioxide.

What these systems DO need is the right nutritional and lifestyle support.

🥦 Eat plenty of plants – providing fibre, vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals.
🥩 Get enough protein – your liver's detoxification pathways require amino acids to function normally.
🌱 Prioritise fibre – supporting your gut microbiome and helping waste products leave the body through regular bowel movements.
💧 Stay hydrated – particularly important for normal kidney function.
🚽 Look after your gut – regular bowel movements are part of normal elimination.
😴 Prioritise sleep and recovery.
🚶 Move your body regularly.
🍷 Reduce alcohol if summer has meant you've been drinking more than usual, your liver will appreciate that far more than a green juice!

And importantly, you don't need to compensate for enjoying yourself.

No starving.
No punishing exercise.
No cutting out entire food groups.
No expensive “detox” products.

Just get back to eating nourishing meals, moving your body, sleeping well and doing the basics consistently. Your body doesn't need a September detox. It needs looking after.

🍨 I think I’ve just found my new favourite homemade ice cream…And before you dismiss it because it contains cottage chee...
30/08/2026

🍨 I think I’ve just found my new favourite homemade ice cream…

And before you dismiss it because it contains cottage cheese, trust me on this one!

I blended:
🥣 Low-fat cottage cheese
🥛 0% Greek yoghurt
🌴 5 dates
🌼 Vanilla essence (alcohol-free)
🧂 A good pinch of salt

Then froze it until thick and creamy.
The combination of dates, vanilla and salt gives it the most gorgeous salted-caramel flavour but there’s a bit more going on nutritionally too.

💪 Cottage cheese + Greek yoghurt provide high-quality protein, making this considerably more satisfying than many frozen desserts.

🦴 They’re also useful sources of calcium, particularly important for maintaining bone health as we age.

🌴 Dates provide the sweetness, but also bring some fibre, potassium and polyphenols. They’re still a concentrated source of naturally occurring sugars, so I’m not pretending they’re magically “sugar free” they’re simply doing a lot more here than sweetening it.

And perhaps most importantly...

It tastes like dessert.

Because sometimes food doesn’t need to be justified by how much protein, calcium or fibre it contains.

Sometimes you just want ice cream. 🍨😂

This one just happens to give you a little extra nutrition at the same time. Salted caramel cottage-cheese ice cream is definitely staying on my menu.

It doesn’t get much more seasonal than this! 💚I’ve just picked a rather large haul of plums and greengages from our gard...
30/08/2026

It doesn’t get much more seasonal than this! 💚

I’ve just picked a rather large haul of plums and greengages from our garden and some are already in the pan gently stewing with cinnamon and star anise.

Aside from tasting lovely, they’re a great example of why I encourage people to eat with the seasons when they can.

🟣 They’re a useful source of fibre, including pectin, a type of soluble fibre that can be fermented by our gut bacteria.

🌱 They contain polyphenols, plant compounds with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. The colourful red and purple skins are particularly interesting, so don’t peel them!

🚽 Plums can support bowel regularity, fresh plums contain fibre and sorbitol, a naturally occurring sugar alcohol that can help draw water into the bowel. Prunes are the more concentrated and better-researched version, but fresh plums can still be a useful addition to the diet.

🍊 They provide vitamin C and potassium, alongside smaller amounts of a range of other micronutrients.

🌈 And they count towards plant diversity. Plums and greengages might be closely related, but choosing different varieties and colours still gives us a lovely range of plant compounds.

And stewing them certainly doesn’t make them “unhealthy”. Although some vitamin C will be lost with heating, the fibre and many of those plant compounds remain.

I’m not adding sugar to these, just cinnamon and star anise and they’ll be lovely with Greek yoghurt or kefir, some nuts and seeds for breakfast or pudding.

And with this many, I think the freezer might be getting a few portions too! 😂

Seasonal, local, inexpensive (especially when they’re growing in your garden!) and good for your gut. What’s not to love?

29/08/2026

A 4-hour workshop takes considerably longer than 4 hours to create! 👀

By the time everyone arrives, makes themselves comfortable and we start talking nutrition, there’s already been rather a lot happening behind the scenes.

📚 Reading research and checking that what I’m teaching reflects the current evidence.

🧠 Turning complicated physiology and nutritional science into something understandable, without oversimplifying it.

💻 Creating (and repeatedly editing!) the presentation.

🎯 Asking myself throughout: “What can someone actually DO with this information?”

📖 Producing practical resources so you’re not expected to remember everything we discuss.

🥗 Planning and preparing lunch, because we can’t possibly spend four hours talking about food without eating some!

And then there’s something that’s particularly important to me: keeping the groups small.

I deliberately limit my workshops to just 8 people.

I don’t want them to feel like a lecture. I want people to be able to ask questions, join the discussion and leave understanding not only what might support their health, but why — and how to put it into practice in real life.

So while you see the four hours we spend together, there are many more hours behind the scenes making sure those four hours are worthwhile.

And I genuinely love putting them together. 💚

My September Healthy Ageing workshop is now fully booked, which I’m delighted about.

And there are now just 2 spaces remaining for:

🎄 November – Festive Gut Health

We’ll explore what’s happening in your digestive system, why festive eating can trigger bloating, reflux and changes in bowel habits, the gut-brain connection, your microbiome, alcohol, meal patterns and, importantly, how to enjoy the festive season without unnecessary restriction.

4 hours | £85 | Lunch included | Maximum 8 people

If you’d like one of the final two places, send me a message. 💚

🌰 “But aren't nuts really high in calories?”Yes, nuts are energy-dense. A small handful can contain around 170–200 calor...
28/08/2026

🌰 “But aren't nuts really high in calories?”

Yes, nuts are energy-dense. A small handful can contain around 170–200 calories, depending on the type.

But if we judge foods purely by their calorie content, we miss an awful lot of important nutrition.

Nuts provide:

🌰 Unsaturated fats – including mono and polyunsaturated fats
🌱 Fibre – supporting satiety, bowel health and the gut microbiome
💪 Plant protein
⚡ Magnesium
🧬 Vitamin E – particularly abundant in almonds and hazelnuts
🌿 Polyphenols and other beneficial plant compounds

And here's where it gets interesting…

Despite being energy-dense, research doesn't suggest that regularly eating nuts as part of a balanced diet automatically leads to weight gain. In fact, nut consumption is associated with better cardiovascular health, and trials generally don't show the weight gain you might expect from their calorie content.

Why?

There are probably several reasons. Nuts can be quite satiating, so we may naturally compensate by eating less elsewhere. And because of their physical structure, we don't necessarily absorb every calorie listed on the packet some of the fat remains trapped within the plant cell walls and passes through the digestive system.

Does that mean you should eat unlimited quantities? Of course not.

A useful portion is around a small handful (approximately 30g).

Walnuts, almonds, pistachios, hazelnuts, Brazil nuts… variety is great, as different nuts provide slightly different nutrients.

So yes, nuts contain plenty of calories. They also contain plenty of nutrition. Calorie-dense doesn't automatically mean unhealthy. 💚

27/08/2026

There are things I care about far more than the number on your scales. 💚

Yes, weight can be useful information. And if weight loss is one of your goals, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to change it.

But it’s only one measure of progress.

When I’m working with someone, I’m also interested in:

⚡ Do you have more energy?

🚽 Has your digestion improved?

😴 Are you sleeping better?

💪 Are you stronger and maintaining muscle?

🥗 Is your diet more nourishing and varied?

🩸 Are your blood pressure, blood glucose, cholesterol and other relevant health markers improving?

🧠 Has your relationship with food changed?

❤️ And perhaps most importantly, do you actually feel better?

Sometimes the scales barely move while someone is getting stronger, sleeping better, experiencing fewer symptoms and making changes that could benefit their long-term health.

And sometimes weight loss comes at the expense of muscle, energy, nutrition and enjoyment of food, which isn’t the outcome I’m looking for.

Weight is data. It isn’t the whole story.

For me, good nutrition is about helping your body function well, stay strong and support you in doing the things you want to do, now and as you get older.

That’s progress worth measuring. 💚

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