Healthy Eating Blog (Health and Well Being)

This year, the theme for World Diabetes Day, (November 14), is “Diabetes: protect our future”. Considering how many people both worldwide and in the United Kingdom have or are predicted to have Type 2 diabetes over the next decade, working on prevention should be a major health priority. There are 2.9 million people in the UK diagnosed with diabetes, and this could rise to 5 million people by 2025.
The Diabetes UK “state of the nation” report 2012 (England) has it in a nutshell when it says “Diabetes is big, it is growing, it is serious and it is expensive. But, it is fixable. After 10 years of knowing what to do, the time for action is now”.

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Having just eaten a small red apple for my mid-morning snack, I’m wondering why more people don’t eat apples.

Apples are plentiful here at the moment, I love seeing trees full of them and an abundance of fallen apples on footpaths and in some of the local parks here. Apples are the perfect snack, easy to throw into your bag for an emergency. They are the perfect “fast food”, contained in their own fabulously coloured packaging.

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Ok, you’ve tried the method in “are you really hungry?“ to tell if you are really hungry or not and find that yes, at certain times of the day you are just darned hungry before time! What do you do? If you are trying to cut down, it makes it very difficult to avoid eating over your requirements.

There are a few strategies to ward off hunger between meals. Firstly you need to consider if you are getting enough exercise, water and sleep as these will all have an impact on hunger. In fact, a paper recently published suggested that early morning exercise can reduce hunger cravings during the day. Sleep has a big impact on hunger and satiety hormones.

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Have you ever started on a weight loss plan to find you are so hungry that it all goes wrong? Hear people say that on their latest diet they are “never hungry”? We have all felt hunger. Hunger isn’t always bad. In fact, I actually think it’s a good thing to feel just a little bit hungry for some of the time. We have been programmed into thinking we must always feel “full”. Why so?

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Trying to lose weight and changing dietary and exercise habits can be difficult, especially when you are doing it alone. Sometimes we “know” what we need to do to make changes but it’s just having the right support and motivation at the right time that makes the difference.

I don’t know how many times I’ve heard someone say to me “I know all this, it’s just doing it that’s hard, if only I could just have someone bring me all my meals” or “do you do meals as well, can’t you just come over and cook all my meals?”

There are a few companies around that do calorie controlled meals and deliver to the door, and some do help people in getting the results they need but as the most efficient method of weight loss, the “just bring me my meals all done” method isn’t necessarily the best.

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You’ve probably gathered from the picture emblazoned across this website that I like strawberries. I love strawberries and they are at their best here where I am. The wonderful thing about strawberries is that they don’t just taste good, they are now also being called a “super food” because they are just so good for you too! Here are just a few of the benefits of the strawberry.

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Did you know that giving your children milk may help them with their physical performance and protect them from falls in later years? We all know that milk is a great source of protein and calcium, essential for bone growth and development, but there is also some evidence that mobility may be improved in the later years as a result of drinking more milk.

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I was really interested to read a study, published last month, which looked at the effects of dairy foods on cognitive performance. At the moment, there is lots of exciting research looking at diet and cognitive performance, cognitive decline and dementia. A lot of this looks at B vitamins, folate, omega 3 fats and fruit/vegetable intake but this latest one looks at the effects of a high intake of reduced fat dairy food on cognitive performance, particularly in overweight subjects.

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It’s quite difficult to know which diet to follow for controlling blood glucose and for weight loss in those with Type 2 diabetes. The most recent dietary guidelines for managing diabetes emphasise weight loss and preventing cardiovascular complications but make no specific recommendation about which weight loss diet to try or, indeed what level of carbohydrate is best for controlling blood sugars. So how do people know which the best diet is for them?

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Snacks. Are they best avoided or do they help when trying to lose weight?
Some people find snacking useful as they can help take the edge off the appetite between meals, thus preventing overeating at meal times. Others find they are best off avoiding all together as the calories just add up when its difficult to control portions. Whichever way is the best for you is the best method to follow as, ultimately, its the total number of calories consumed in the day that counts.

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Are you off out to dinner tonight? Special occasion? Don’t panic, that special meal out shouldn’t mean the end of your healthy eating plan.

Special occasions and celebrations often revolve around eating out. It is important that these are still enjoyable, even though you are trying to eat more healthily. Here are some tips to keep you on the straight and narrow…..

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Ever come back from holidays and dread getting on the scales? Do you find that going on holidays sets your weight loss plan back quite a bit? Apparently this time of year is when the largest number of people in th UK book their holidays. Holidays can be a minefield for those trying to lose weight.

Many people who are trying to lose weight find they often “slip” or “lapse” during holidays. This is often due to over indulgence in food and/or alcohol and being less active than usual. Some people however, actually lose weight on holiday for example if they are much more active than usual.

Before you begin your holiday it is a good idea to think about whether you are likely to gain weight. If so, then it may help to plan ahead how you could minimise weight gain whilst still enjoying your holiday.

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You’ve probably heard people say “I cant lose weight because I have a slow metabolism”. There have been plenty of studies to show that people will lose weight when their calories are restricted but it is true that everyone will have a slightly different metabolic rate.

But is it inevitable that someone with a slow metabolism is destined to be stuck with it forever and find it perpetually difficult to lose weight?

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In my office, as colleague has written “Keep calm and drink Tea” on our whiteboard in big red letters. Since being in the UK, I have discovered that it isn’t a myth; people here drink a lot of tea! In the workplace, there are frequent tea breaks but is the saying true? Does it help at work?

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Eating out? Lunch on the run, bought at the work canteen or grabbed from the vending machine? How often do you eat “out of the home”?
In the last decade, we have been eating out of the home more and more. The traditional home cooked meal at the dining table is in danger of becoming a thing of the past. Eating “out of the home” is something that is on the rise in all ages groups with adolescents being the ones to do so the most.
Many factors have resulted in our eating out more often. These include increased choice and availability of food and food establishments, reduced cooking skills, altered working hours and practices as well as the increase in numbers of working mothers.
But is eating out of the home so bad? It’s nice to have the wonderful choice of foods available to us and especially nice to have the treat of eating out on occasion.
Unfortunately, for many people these days, it isn’t just on occasion.
And it can be a problem.

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