Healthy Eating Blog (Health and Well Being)

One of the most challenging and, perhaps, polarising concepts for Dietitians at this time would be the emergence of weight neutral approaches to dietary management. For an outcome focussed profession, trained in the quantitative skills of energy requirement calculations and “diet plans”, the potential change in this focus to a weight neutral approach can be one that is either readily embraced or rejected as a “step too far”. Weight loss currently remains the primary recommendation for health improvement in individuals with high body mass index (BMI) despite limited evidence of long-term success. Weight neutral approaches have now emerged as a result of building evidence that “dieting” with a weight loss goal does not result in significant health improvements, regardless of weight changes. (1,2) and that dieting as a weight loss strategy proves unsuccessful in terms of long term maintenance.

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Often when people come to visit me, they are asking for or expecting a 7 or 14 day “meal plan”.

“Oh, don’t tell me what to do. I just need a meal plan” is what I hear, quite often.

This is a sentence Dietitians dread.

In fact, Dietitians are very unlikely to give you these kinds of meal plans for 3 main reasons:

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When they coined the phrase, “good things come in small packages”, they definitely must have been thinking about eggs. When it comes to nutritional value, eggs are action-packed with good quality protein, vitamins, minerals and healthy omega -3 fats. Despite this, the health benefits and risks of eating eggs have been debated for many years. The elephant in the room has always been that a single large egg contains around 187mg of cholesterol.

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It’s all in the planning.
Ok, so I did mention planning in tip 1 but this is all about planning your events. Scout ahead. Make sure you know what foods and drinks will be on offer at each function- this way you will know how best to prepare and plan. It sounds a bit over the top but it does help.

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Surviving the festive season- part 1
Advent calendars are being whipped out all over the country and people are preparing for the onslaught of the “festive season”. The festive season is a dangerous time when it comes to letting your guard down and the loosening up of healthy habits. There are parties, dinners, baking, the stressful rushing around, less activity due to the cold and those lovely Xmas treats everywhere. It doesn’t help that mince pies and sweets have been pushed on us by the supermarkets since November.

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Over the last few weeks, the temperature has definitely dropped here! Last Saturday morning, I spent a cold half hour scraping ice from my car windows. Yes, winter is here.
A lot of my clients are finding the cold weather a bit challenging when it comes to sticking to lunchtime salads. It’s true that when it’s cold, sometimes a salad doesn’t quiet “cut it”. It’s important to keep eating those vegetables though! You could try soup, (which I have nearly every day for lunch in this weather),or go for a warm salad.
There are lots of really lovely warm salad recipes around. I think it’s much more fun to invent your own.

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You may have seen the “reversing Diabetes” reports and books coming out in the media/press right now. New results coming out from a UK study, this month, have also shown that people can reverse their Type 2 Diabetes with a strict low calorie diet regime. The research is part of a growing body of evidence showing that people with Type 2 diabetes who successfully lose weight can reverse their condition because fat is removed from their pancreas, returning insulin production to normal. But can it be done?

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It’s funny how things come around. Years ago, when I first became a Nutritionist/Dietitian, (goodness, it was over 20 years ago!), we used to say that the whole lemon in water idea was nonsense. Over the years, however, we have been able to get an idea of just how good a glass of lemon water can be. A glass of water with a squeeze of lemon in it can:

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Sometimes being a Dietitian just isn’t “sexy”. No, seriously! We can sound like old stick in the muds, trotting out the old “everything in moderation” line when others in the wide and varied world that is nutrition; may be encouraging that “new” lifestyle diet, (you know what I’m sayin’ – ala the newest super food, paleo, raw, sugar free, “clean”). These new super shiny “lifestyles” can sound like just the thing……
“From now, I’ll only eat “clean” and never let the poison that is- (insert latest “bad” food group here)- touch my lips. My body is a temple “.……..sounds good, doesn’t it?

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October is National Cholesterol Month in UK and time to remind ourselves about the disturbing UK coronary heart disease statistics. When it comes to causes of death in UK, Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) is the big hitter. It is simply the biggest single killer in the UK alone. 2015 statistics show that almost 70, 000 deaths each year are due to CHD. Scotland and the North of England, where I live, have the highest rates in the nation.
So what can we do about it?

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Following my blog on the Non Diet Approach, I did promise to write a little blog about each of main features of this approach to weight concerns and to building a healthy relationship with food.

This week, I’ve been concentrating on Intuitive Eating.

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My 11 year old has an exam tomorrow and I am breakfast planning. A good breakfast is vital before any exam.

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I was looking at some nutrition papers for any new information to share and found a study on pistachios. The study was interesting but to be honest, I was a little less interested in the study than I was in thinking about my strong food memories of pistachios when I was first introduced to them as a child. I think I must have been around ten and my parents brought a large bag of the lovely little green and purple tinged delights back from a trip to Canada. At this stage, none of us had ever heard of them and they were new, exciting and delicious. I have never forgotten that and still think of that first time whenever I start cracking open those little shells.

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You may have heard of the low FODMAP diet, the Australian “invented” diet which has a reported 75% success rate in significantly reducing IBS symptoms. Lately I’ve been quite concerned to hear that a lot of people have been trying to “go it alone” on the low FODMAP diet. I’ve even been hearing from clients that their GPs have diagnosed them with IBS and then suggested they google FODMAPs in order to follow the diet. While following the diet may give great results, it can also be a confusing and difficult process without the help of a Dietitian.

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You may have noticed, when browsing through my website, that I offer both traditional and “Non Diet” approaches to weight concerns. Wondering what this Non Diet Approach is and if it might be for you? Consider these questions.

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