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False - Foods containing carbohydrates include starchy foods and sugary foods and drinks. The popularity of low-carb diets such as Atkins have given carbohydrates a bad name, but don’t be misled. Foods such as bread, potatoes, rice and pasta play an important part in a healthy, balanced diet (providing energy) and a low-carb diet can leave us feeling tired, make our muscles feel like lead, or make us grumpy. Choosing healthier types of starchy foods can also be beneficial for digestion, blood glucose control and satiety (feeling full).

In the UK we have easy access to a lot of starchy foods which could the reason that these foods are linked with weight gain. Eating large portions of these foods or having a diet that lacks variety  might mean that we are eating a lot of bread, pasta, rice or potatoes, and if we eat too much of any food then we will gain weight. In addition, we often add fats and sugars to these foods – such as butter, creamy sauces, cheese, jam or honey – and these can also contribute to weight gain. I have spoken with many people who say that they avoid sugary foods and drinks but have not realised that eating large amounts of starchy foods could be contributing to their weight gain.

In the UK it is recommended that about 50% of the energy (calories) we eat should come from carbohydrates, with no more than 11% of those calories coming from sugary foods and drinks. For long-term health most of the UK population need to get more of their energy from healthy carbohydrates (bread, cereals and potatoes) combined with sufficient amounts of fruits and vegetables and milk and dairy foods. For many adults, including those who are overweight, fibre-rich sources of starchy carbohydrate may help with dietary satiety and weight maintenance or even weight loss.

Please note that young children (under 2 years) and people with high energy requirements but small appetites (like the elderly) may have different requirements for carbohydrates and should look for specific advice (eg: from a Dietitian)

For information about eating a healthy, balanced diet and portion sizes – please refer to the booklet from the Dept of Health called Your guide to the Eatwell Plate

Well, it’s been 6 weeks since the new year started. Were you able to make some changes that have you feeling better? Are you full of energy? Are you feeling fitter than ever before? Congratulations to those you have made some changes and are reaping the benefits. However, some of us might be wondering why it seems so difficult to change when we promise ourselves, year after year, that this time we really will make an effort to be healthier.

Many people have difficulty changing because their goals are too vague, as in ‘I want to be healthy’…where would you start with such a broad goal? Some other people are overly ambitious, as in ‘I want to run a marathon in April’…when they haven’t owned a pair of running shoes for 10 years.

The secret to making permanent changes is to make very small, specific changes that you can easily maintain over time.

Set SMART goals
SMART goals are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time specific

Set Specific goals
Your goal must be clear and well defined. Vague or generalized goals are not achievable because they don’t provide sufficient direction. For example, instead of ‘I will be more active’ you could decide to ‘walk for 20 minutes every day’ or ‘go swimming once a week’.

 Set Measurable goals

Decide on precise amounts or times so that you can measure your degree of success. For example, rather than ‘eat more fruit’ you could ‘eat 2 portions of fruit a day’. If you have a way to measure your success then you can celebrate your achievements.

 Set Attainable goals

Make sure it is possible to meet the goals you set. If you set a goal that you have no hope of achieving (like ‘I’ll run a marathon this year’) you will only demoralize yourself and erode your confidence. However, resist the urge to set goals that are too easy. By setting realistic yet challenging goals you hit the balance you need. These are the types of goals that need you to “raise the bar” and they bring the greatest personal satisfaction.

Set Relevant goals

Goals should be relevant to you. If you want to lower your cholesterol you might have different goals to someone who wants to lower their blood pressure. Also, choose goals that are suitable for you – eg: don’t promise to give up chocolate if you know you rarely eat chocolate, or don’t set a goal to ‘cycle more’ if you don’t have a bicycle

Set Time Specific goals

Goals must have a deadline. When you are working to a deadline, your sense of urgency increases and achievement will come that much quicker, plus you will know when to review your goal and when to celebrate your success – eg: I’ll walk for 20 mins a day for the rest of this month, then consider increasing the time spent walking for next month

Steps to success…

Making a few relatively small changes at a time will make it easier to maintain those changes. Change does take time, so don’t be over-ambitious. It is important that you continue to make small changes which will add up to a larger benefit to your health.

 Some people like to have something to work towards, so think about rewarding yourself for all your effort when you reach your goal (perhaps a book, CD, DVD or a day out).

True or false? Most of the salt in our diet is added to food at the table  or when cooking

False – Just 10-15% of the salt we eat comes from salt we add when we’re cooking or at the table.

Over 75% of the salt in our diet comes from processed foods that we buy, including bread, cheese, processed meat (eg: ham, bacon, sausages), ready-made vegetable dishes, cakes, biscuits, pastries, crisps, salted nuts, cook-in sauces (eg: curry paste).

A high salt intake is associated with high blood pressure, which is in turn linked to various health problems including strokes, heart disease, cancers, osteoporosis and obesity.

Adults should try to limit their salt intake to less than 6 grams (one teaspoon) a day. Children should have much less salt than adults.

Since salt is found in processed foods, it is easy to reach the 6g limit just by eating everyday foods.

For example:

• 60g bran flakes & milk = 1g salt
• 50g bag crisps = 1g salt
• 2 slices bread & 2 slices ham = 1.5g salt
• Half a 10″ pizza = 1.5g salt
• 4 digestive biscuits = 1g salt

TOTAL* = 6g salt

Studies have shown that adults are eating 8.6g of salt a day (average).

To reduce the amount of salt in your diet, try to choose fewer processed foods or choose salt-reduced varieties of your favourite foods. Try to flavour foods with other condiments, such as herbs and spices, vinegar or lemon juice.

For more information about recommendations,  salt in our diet and its effect on our health – go to Action on Salt

Salt Awareness Week 2012 (starts 23rd March)

*Amounts are approximate

Many products have sugar added during the manufacturing process. All food and drink packets have  a list of ingredients, with the ingredients listed by weight in descending order (weightiest listed first, least weighty listed last).  Generally, if sugar is listed among the first few ingredients then the product will contain a lot of sugar.

However, manufacturers often disguise sugar by using various names to describe it in the ingredients list. Foods and drinks may contain a number of different types of sugar, listed separately, making it more difficult to decide if a food actually has large quantities of sugar. If you add together all the sugars listed on a product, the total could make up a significant part of the product.

When looking for sugar on a food label, look out for the following:

• Ingredients ending in ‘-ose’ – including maltose, sucrose, glucose, dextrose, fructose, saccharose, xylose
• Corn syrup
• High fructose corn syrup
• Malt syrup
• Rice syrup
• Golden syrup, maple syrup
• Honey, molasses, treacle
• Raw sugar, brown sugar
• Cane sugar
• Fruit juice concentrate
• Invert sugar

Since sugar is ‘hidden’ in many manufactured products it is easy to eat a great deal of sugar just by consuming regular, every day food and drinks. Below is a list of ingredients for a ‘light’ breakfast bar (copied directly from a supermarket website) – see how many sugars you can find in this product

Cereals (36%) (Whole Oats, Rice, Whole Wheat), Prebiotic Oligofructose Syrup (30%), Dried Apple Pieces (5.7%) (with Preservative: Sulphur Dioxide), Sugar, Cereal Flours (Rice Flour, Wheat Flour), Dextrose, Humectant: Glycerol, Fruit Juice Concentrates (Grape, Strawberry (0.6%), Raspberry (0.5%)), Glucose Syrup, Vegetable Oil, Sweetened Cranberries (1.9%) (Cranberries, Sugar), Freeze Dried Raspberries (1.1%), Maize Starch, Milk Lactose, Milk Yogurt Powder, Natural Flavourings, Malted Barley Extract, Citric Acid, Elderberry Juice Extract, Salt, Emulsifier: Soya Lecithin, Acidity Regulator: Malic Acid, Antioxidant: Tocopherols.

If you have a ‘sweet tooth’ the good news is that our taste buds do change over the course of a few weeks and that we soon become accustomed to foods or drinks that are less sweet once we start to cut down on sugar. Rather than swap to sweeteners, try to cut down on sugar (perhaps the sugar in your tea or coffee or choose a different breakfast cereal) – some people like to cut-down slowly and others like to go ‘cold turkey’. I have spoken to many people over the years who say they could never go back to 2 spoons of sugar in their tea (‘too sweet’, they say). So there is hope for anyone with a sweet tooth…many have been on the path before and succeeded.

For more information about sugar, it’s effect on our health and healthier choices – see the Food Fact sheet on Sugar from the British Dietetic Association

False – There’s plenty of protein in plant foods. It’s a popular view that you need to eat meat to obtain protein, however this is far from the truth. Protein exists in many plant-based foods and in appreciable quantities. While you may not want to eat a vegetarian diet 24/7, some meat-free days may help your health and your finances.

The UK recommendations for protein are about 40g a day for women (weighing about 65kg and between 19-50 years old) and 50g a day for men (80kg and 19-50 years old). Most people get plenty of protein from eating a balanced diet, even when the diet does not contain meat everyday (see further details below).

Eggs contain perfect quality protein against which all other proteins are measured. Protein quality is a reflection of the number and balance of essential amino acids (protein building blocks) present.

• One 50g egg ~ 6g protein

Dairy foods are great sources of protein.

• 1 cup of reduced fat milk ~ 9g protein
• 200g/7oz of low fat yoghurt ~ 13g protein
• 40g/1½oz of cheese (hard variety such as cheddar) ~ 9g protein

Fish & seafood are excellent sources of protein (pesco-vegetarians eat fish, but not meat)

• 100g/3½oz white fish (cooked) ~ 25g of protein
• 100g/3½oz prawns/shrimp (cooked) ~ 24g protein
• 100g/3½oz squid/octopus (cooked) ~ 21g protein

Legumes (pulses) are great sources of protein.

• ½ cup baked beans in tomato sauce ~ 7g protein
• ½ cup canned, drained cannellini beans ~ 8g protein
• 2/3 cup cooked red lentils ~ 9g protein
• 1 cup cooked split peas ~ 12g protein
• 1 cup cooked soy beans ~ 23g protein
• 100g (3 1/2 oz) tofu (raw) ~ 12g protein
• 1 cup light soy milk ~ 5g protein

Breakfast cereals, breads and grains are surprisingly high in protein, and the relatively high protein content of wheat is one of the reasons it has become such a widely grown staple food crop.

• ¾ cup Special K Original ~ 6g protein
• ¾ cup All-Bran ~ 7g protein
• ¼ cup raw traditional rolled oats ~ 3g protein
• 1 slice soy and linseed bread ~ 6g protein
• 1 cup cooked brown rice ~ 5g protein
• 1 cup cooked pasta ~ 7g protein
• 1 cup cooked soba/buckwheat noodles ~ 9g protein
• 1 cup cooked pearl barley ~ 6g protein
• 1/2 cup cooked quinoa ~ 4g protein

Nuts and seeds are super nutritious foods that also contain protein.

• A small handful (30g/1oz) of most nuts or seeds ~ 5g protein

Example meat-free menu

• ½ cup oats 6g
• 1 cup milk 9g
• 2 slices soy and linseed bread 12g
• 20g cheese 5g
• 1 cup soba noodles 9g
• 100g tofu 12g
• 1 tub yoghurt 13g
• 30g mixed nuts 5g

TOTAL 69g

So, you don’t need to eat meat to get enough protein because it is easily available from plant foods. Meat does provide other important nutrients (including iron, zinc and vitamin B12) more efficiently than plant foods, which is why our health benefits from eating a variety of foods during the week.

Start the NEW YEAR with a promise to eat a wider variety of foods and enjoy meat-free mondays this year.

Adpated from article – http://ginews.blogspot.com/#mmon

True – If you are partial to a cooked breakfast on a wintery morning you can enjoy a healthy meal by grilling lean bacon and poaching the eggs. Don’t forget the baked beans, grilled tomatoes and mushrooms cooked without fat. Serve it all up with thick crusty bread (wholemeal or wholegrain if possible). Enjoy a delicious cooked breakfast that is also a healthy and balanced meal.

See http://jpubhealth.oxfordjournals.org/content/33/4/527.abstract

While some cooking enthusiasts might like to spend hours in the kitchen, many of us have commitments that do not allow us to spend so much time cooking up a storm for our families every day. This week a survey said that just a quarter of meals (one meal in every four) is  home-made (cooked from scratch) and we learned that British women are the most overweight in Europe, with British men the second most overweight in Europe. I can’t help but feel that these results are inter-connected and that a greater reliance on home-made meals would have a beneficial effect on British health.

I like to make our food myself because I want to be sure that we are eating a good range of nutrients. Yesterday I cooked up a 500g bag of chickpeas (about 80p from the supermarket) and then looked on-line for some chick pea recipes. I decided on chickpea and cabbage curry, because I had some cabbage left from my vegetable box delivery, and home-made homous. I had some of the required ingredients to hand (spices, tahini) but just missed out or substituted the ingredients that I didn’t have available.  I didn’t have dried mango powder for my curry so I just did without – I don’t suppose that many people do have dried mango powder. I learned long ago that having all the ‘required’ ingredients is not always necessary and usually find that meals taste great even if I do miss out or substitute an ingredient or two. There are times when my changes or omissions don’t work very well, but the food is still edible and I try to remember what went wrong for next time. The important thing is to practice, to learn what will or won’t work if you make changes to a recipe.

I really believe that the only way to eat well most of the time is to think ahead. Prepare a menu for the week and stock up on the ingredients you will need. Use frozen or tinned vegetables to save on preparation time (washing, peeling, chopping). Invest in a slow-cooker so that hearty meals can be prepared in the morning and be ready to eat when you get home after a long day at work. Forgo your favourite TV show one night (catch-up later) to cook up a few meals for the week, storing them in the refrigerator or freezer. Keep a big pot of home-made soup fresh by reheating it daily. Don’t forget the quick and simple things, like an omelette or a steak or chop or fish with salad. I often bake six or more jacket potatoes at a time, then keep them in the fridge and heat one in the microwave when I get home late at night, serving it with my favourite topping.  This afternoon I will make a start on a soup for tomorrow – I will be boiling up the stock for the soup and soaking the pulses (green and yellow split peas) – then tomorrow I just add the pulses and a few chopped vegetables to the stock and simmer all day. Easy! And nutritious!

Most importantly, love your leftovers. Tonight we will be having leftover curry with fresh, chopped cantaloupe melon for dessert (preparation time about 10 mins). Lovely!

False – Some vegetarians like to think that their diet is healthier than that of meat-eaters. However, veggie dishes are likely to be just as high in fat if they contain alternatives such as cheese, cream or have been deep-fried. Some meat options, such as fish and chicken, are often a healthy option.  Always consider the ingredients and cooking methods before deciding on the healthiest and most nutritious choice.

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You may have heard that our bodies need between 1.5-2.5 litres of fluid a day (or more) in order to function properly, depending on body size, activity levels or climate . This observation has had many of us reaching for 6-8 glasses of water a day (that’s alot!) and may be partly responsible for the rise in the popularity of the store-bought water bottle.

Recently I was walking along the Thames river in London and I was disturbed to see hundreds of discarded water bottles washed up along the shoreline. As soon as I returned home that day I dug out my re-usable water bottle and started to fill it daily from the kitchen tap, with a top-up from the water fountain at work.

Since I only wanted to carry one water bottle with me daily I started to think about the other fluids that I had through the day and realised that I was getting more than enough fluid for my body to work properly.

My typical fluid intake

Coffee in a mug – 2 each morning

Milk – with my cereal every morning

Water bottle (500ml) – refilled at lunchtime

Soup in a mug – at lunchtime

Yoghurt and fruit – at lunchtime (foods with a high water content)

Tea in a mug – one at lunchtime, one after work

A glass of wine with dinner or a hot drink after dinner (sometimes both)

If you want to be sure that you are getting enough fluid through the day, check the colour of your urine (it should be a pale straw colour). Look for a hydration chart online for more information.

So, it’s not just water that you should be drinking…all fluids count!