Read our latest bulletin: Aug 2023

[Music]

Coming together today  and seeing all these really inspiring ideas all in one place and getting to network with our counterparts in other forces really does help reenergise me.

[Music]

We are so thrilled that we've won this award, it means so much to us.

[Applause]

[Music]

To have that acknowledgement and recognition, it really does mean a lot. We've got an amazing team of fitness instructors that go above and beyond as part of their secondary duty to support their colleagues.

[Music]
The award is for a series of short video films, they're called Wellbeing Bites for staff to access remotely.

We've been working on the most fantastic initiative which has changed the lives of so many officers and staff in Leicestershire.

[Music]

I'm very, very proud of you all for what you've done and the team down there, thank you so much.

[Applause]

It's really energising to have been here and been involved and it's given me lots of ideas to go back with and motivate me to keep going.

[Music]

[Caption: Oscar Kilo]

[Music]
Hi, if we’ve not met before, I’m Anna Earl, a Registered Nutritional Therapist and former police officer. Why am I encouraging you to join the five day sugar-free solution? Well, chronic health conditions are on the increase, as are statistics regarding average weight both amongst adults and children, and they come with health implications.

Two major changes to our diets over the last generation or two are the amount of sugar and the amount of processed food that we consume. Nutrition science provides evidence that a wholefood diet low in sugar and processed foods can help to reduce your risk of chronic disease, can boost low energy and mood, and help you restore your motivation and drive to perform at your best.

I’ve experienced the energy highs and lows of relying on sugary treats for an energy boost, for comfort, out of boredom, and purely out of habit, and the consequent impact on health. But now I’ve got a better understanding of what those sweet treats do in your body and how they can be the root cause of symptoms like regular energy slumps in the afternoons as well as putting our long-term health under strain. So I’d like to share with you how to live without feeling you’re on that constant rollercoaster with your energy spiking from sugar intake, but then crashing and causing strong cravings for unhealthy boosts because that’s the pattern that sugary foods causes.

Come to a place where you are able to decide and control when you have those occasional treat foods, and in what quantity, to still really enjoy them now and again, but they don’t control you. You don’t end up feeling guilty and like you have no willpower, perhaps struggling to lose stubborn weight gain. Foods high in sugar may give that instant hit of energy, but they actually make you feel more fatigued.

I know how hard it is to juggle healthy eating with a busy working life; it can feel like a huge effort. But taking time to plan, prioritise, and prepare nutritious meals can soon make you feel more energised, healthier, happier, and slimmer if that’s one of your goals. So could you be addicted to sugar? Does the thought of cutting down on certain foods feel overwhelming? But do you regularly feel sluggish and fatigued, especially from overeating? Do you eat certain foods as a response to cravings rather than real hunger, but then you need more and more of the foods that you crave to experience any pleasure or reduce negative emotions?

So what does sugar free actually look like? Sugar is present in such a vast spread of our food and drink options we barely question its presence as we consume it throughout the day. It’s not just the white stuff that we might add to tea and coffee, or find in bars of chocolate, many people don’t realise that white floury goods such as white bread and pasta, pizza bases, pastries, white rice, biscuits and cakes, as well as breakfast cereals, fruit juices, and fizzy drinks, they’re all quickly converted to sugar as we digest these simple carbohydrate foods.

Sugar is calories with no nutritional benefit other than that temporary spike of energy but followed by a crash. However, our average consumption of sugar is at such a level that it is chronically detrimental to our health. Many of us are totally unaware of the impact it has on our general energy, our mood, skin, gut health, and weight, our increased risk of Type 2 diabetes, and the extra pressure on our heart health.

Sugar can have an inflammatory effect, so reducing your intake can help to alleviate some of the aches and pains that are driven by inflammation in the body. So this week we are going to reduce reliance on foods and drinks with added sugar and sweeteners and to boost your energy with nourishing foods. This is a recalibrate week to adapt to fuelling your bodies with essential nutrients without an unnatural dependence and desire for sweetness.

If you need any further convincing, check out a two minute trailer on YouTube for a film that’s called That Sugar Film. It was filmed in 2015 by an Australian guy who followed a low fat, high sugar diet just for 60 days but with dire consequences on his health. He gained weight, became incredibly lethargic, and developed fatty liver disease from sugar, not from fat. Sugar adds calories, not nutrients.

Sugar is present in foods in so many different forms other than your regular sugarcane granulated type. Check for ingredients ending in -ose. That’s the chemical name for many types of sugar such as fructose, glucose, maltose, and dextrose. But when it comes to fructose, don’t worry and panic about the amount of fruit you’re eating. Eating a whole fruit is so beneficial; it’s just the fruit juice that can give that sugary spike.

And other common types of added sugars are corn sweetener and high fructose corn syrup, fruit juice concentrate, and nectar, honey, maple syrup, molasses, and malt. If you’re used to counting calories and choosing low fat foods for weight loss, and yet your diet is high in sugar, you may be struggling to lose those stubborn pounds. Sugar that we don’t burn for energy after eating gets stored as fat.

Sweet processed treats and snack foods manufactured by the food industry are generally not designed for your brain to tell you that you’re full and to stop eating. They’re designed to make you want more, and the more your brain gets used to – used to certain amounts of sugar for that dopamine fix, that feeling of comfort and reward – the more it wants.

So cutting it out or even cutting down can feel hard, especially if you have habitually turned to sweet foods to give you a boost of energy throughout the day to get you through, or as a little treat for something, or a pick me up.

So as you start this five day sugar-free solution, could you consider packaging it up in an appealing way to get those you live with to join in to? If you have young people at home, consider that British children are some of the biggest consumers of sugar in Europe. A study by scientists at Birmingham University found that children are consuming an average of 75 grams of sugar a day. That’s the equivalent of 19 teaspoons rather than their maximum of five to seven teaspoons per day depending on their age. And this rises from 95 to 110 grams in teenagers; that’s four times their recommended daily allowance. Small wonder that sugar has been singled out as the biggest contributing factor in the national obesity crisis.

Sugar creates imbalances in energy that can contribute to erratic behaviour and mood changes, and paves the way towards Type 2 diabetes. I’m not telling you this to scare you; this could be a wake-up call. So if you can get others on board at home you’ll also be investing in their health, plus you won’t be tormented by them all scoffing sugary treats in front of you. You can reduce the amount of temptation that you have around the house this week.

You could also benefit from some peer support if you do this as a team at work. If you feel tired, sorely tempted or demotivated, sharing this experience with your colleagues could be the key to your success. The support from sharing your challenges and wins with those around you can be significant.

At the end of the week you can decide whether you want to manage reintroducing it in a controlled and conscious way, or manage without it all together for a while longer, and see what happens. So here’s what you get – a 10 page Sugar Solution Guide that you can download to breaking free from sugar, and this will help you understand where sugar can sneak into your diet. Discover healthier swaps, particularly ideas for breakfast and snacks, which are usually the worst offenders. A Health and Energy Questionnaire for you to complete before you start to see how you score and how this compares to how you feel at the end of the week. And a short daily video with a different focus to help you put the ideas into practice.

You might want to keep a notebook to hand to just jot down tips, ideas, thoughts, and perhaps a symptoms tracker along the way. And you might want to keep a blank copy of the Health and Energy Questionnaire too so you can complete it again at a later date without being influenced by your scores that you gave on day one. You might just jot your answers down in that notebook instead, and this can be a really handy gauge to monitor your progress.

So here’s how to prepare for a positive start for day one whenever you’re ready. Give yourself 15 minutes to sit and decide what your health goal is, and how reducing sugar is going to make you feel. What do you hope to achieve? Then have a look through the Sugar Solution Guide, particularly at the suggestions for less sweet breakfasts. Familiarise yourself with sources of protein; there are many options from meat, cheese, dairy, eggs, and plant-based such as beans, and then lentils, nuts, and seeds, and aim to include a portion of protein with every meal. This will help keep you fuller and reduce your cravings and desire to snack between meals.

And then plan out those low sugar meals for next week and create a shopping list with just those ingredients so that you are ready. Remember, the simple carbohydrates quickly convert to glucose, that simplest form of sugar in your blood, so you’re looking to substitute refined floury goods with wholegrain versions. So white bread, white pasta, and rice to wholemeal and brown versions. Keep high sugar foods at home to a minimum if possible to provide you with a more supportive and encouraging environment.

So two health alerts before we finish. As reducing sugar can start to reduce inflammation in your body, it can also encourage detoxification, so you may feel some temporary withdrawal symptoms similar to those if you withdraw from caffeine – headaches, low mood, dizziness, and nausea. Be prepared for this, but also know it does not last. Whole foods, good hydration, and some restorative sleep – which I know can be a challenge in your role – will help this process which usually lasts only a day or two. And on the other side of those detox symptoms is a new healthier you.

And then secondly, if you have any health reasons why reducing sugar quickly might be detrimental to you such as you are diabetic, you need to do this with supervision from your health practitioner. You might need to take a more gradual approach to reducing your sugar intake where your blood sugar is monitored.

So that’s it. If you’re really unsure where to start, maybe go back to the Oscar Kilo Nutrition for Wellbeing Resources, watch some of the other bite-sized videos there on healthy swaps and snacks. Check out the recipes and the toolkits, or view the Feed Your Body Clock webinar series. It’s all there to help you feel better, healthier, and more energised to do your amazing job.

So proceed to day one when you’re ready.

[Music]

(John Groeger, Professor of Psychology, sleep researcher)

We want to reduce the amount of sleepy driving on British roads. It's clear from the accident statistics that many crashes happen in the early hours of the morning.

There's also a peak about the time people normally travel to work and a peak again when people travel home.

Our interest is in that early morning peak.

This project will focus on shift workers, which is the main reason that most people are out and about driving in the early hours of the morning.

(Dr Fran Pilkington-Cheney, Lecturer in Psychology and Sleep)

A problem with previous approaches is the lack of large, diverse sample of workers, which is something that this project is hoping to address by working together with the National Police Wellbeing Service.

This project will collect data in three phases.

Firstly, we will conduct a large national survey to look at sleep and wellbeing challenges and the array of shift work patterns.

We will then measure the sleep and performance of a sample of those participants in order to predict sleepiness and driving risk.

This will then be validated in the final phase of our data collection by using vehicle telematic data.

(John Groeger, Professor of Psychology, sleep researcher)

We hope to bring all of these data together into a software tool, which we will make available to employers so that they can schedule their workers driving, whether it's because they drive as part of work or simply to and from work. In order for them to avoid driving at times when the drivers are likely to be sleepy.