Healthy Eating Blog (Kids and Young People)

Revision week can be a stressful time and it may be tempting, if you are this way inclined, to treat your teen to sugary snacks, rewards of takeaways and “at the desk” quick meals.

This is not doing your student any favours.

Keep Reading...

Foods to avoid and foods to feed your teen's brain for best success at exam time

School starts up again next week where I am. That means school lunches for another year. I do a packed lunch for my son.
Have your kids ever groaned when you’ve mentioned what kind of sandwiches were in their packed lunch? My son has. Now my sandwiches aren’t THAT bad, (really, they aren’t), it’s just that sometimes we all can get a little sick of sandwiches or wraps every single day.

Keep Reading...

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

7 Quick tips for the perfect exam day breakfast:

Keep Reading...

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.

Keep Reading...

Looking after your children’s health is pretty high on the agenda for most parents.

Lately, I’ve seen and spoken to a lot of parents who are on the hunt for healthier snack and drink options. Trying to reduce sugar is the main aim; for overall health and for the protection of those little teeth.

Have you ever bought a “no added sugar” drink, thinking it is a better option for dental health? Well I’m sorry to say these are just as bad as the sugar laden drinks.

Keep Reading...

I was listening to the radio the other day and heard a Home Economist talking about cheap, quick and easy meals. (Yes, it was MY kind of radio show!). I was intrigued to hear a throw away reference to a really easy pizza dough made from just two ingredients – flour and yoghurt- so I had to investigate.

Keep Reading...

We all want our kids to eat healthy, right? Healthy eating doesn’t just happen. It is up to us as parents to raise healthy eaters with positive attitudes to food, health and cooking. It’s so important to establish healthy eating habits from early on. It’s never too late, though! If you are keen to get your family on track to healthy eating, here are my top tips for raising healthy eaters

Keep Reading...

Teenagers sleep a lot, right? Well maybe this isn’t such a bad thing, according to a small study on sleep restriction and dietary intake, published this month. In this experiment, forty one teenagers (between 14 and 16) were placed on a three week sleep programme and their diets were monitored. The first week included normal sleep, to stabilize sleeping patterns and the following weeks included restrictions, (6.5 hours vs 10 hrs).
What they found was…..

Keep Reading...

Looking up at the grey sky that still hangs around after the recent bout of snow, I’m wondering how on earth anyone is going to manage to get their Vitamin D from sunshine today. As a pale person, I spent a lot of my youth being protected from the harsh Australian sun and we never gave much thought to the fact I might have been low on Vitamin D.

The “sunshine vitamin”, which is produced by the body in response to sunlight, has been in the press a lot lately. More and more, we are seeing deficiencies and illnesses associated with low levels of Vitamin D are on the rise.

Please join us for a health chat on 7th February 2013. Read on for details…

Keep Reading...

Yesterday, I was asked to make a comment on live radio for BBC Merseyside in response to news reports that the public health minister had announced that it is “easy to identify the poorest people in society because many of them are overweight or obese”. You can here me from 56:30 here for a limited time.

Keep Reading...

My little boy has school dinners every day. I never had school dinners, growing up in Brisbane where we I took a packed lunch to school and occasionally had money for the “tuck shop”. I can’t say I’m 100% happy with the school dinners my son has, but we have decided he will stick on them for a few months.

Each day when I pick my son up from the bus stop, I ask him how his day was and what he had for lunch. It’s been playing on my mind for some time now that he never mentions that he has any fruit at school. He tends to have a baguette or wrap and a small cake and drink. The other day, I asked him why he doesn’t have any fruit at school and was told that there was no fruit on offer. Now I don’t know if that’s so or not, (8 year old faced with a small cake or fruit is a difficult one), but it certainly made me aware that I can’t rely on school dinners to be providing my own son’s fruit and vegetables for the day.

Keep Reading...

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.

Keep Reading...

This week, I had a query about diet and acne, whether or not there is a link and what sort of dietary changes could help to reduce or avoid acne.

Acne can be very distressing for young people and older people alike. A high proportion of 11-30 year olds are affected by acne (over 80%). There have been many suggestions about the links between diet and acne in the past, but there have been variable amounts of evidence to support many of the claims.

Foods such as sweets, chocolate and fatty foods have been blamed for being acne triggers and suggestions have been made that zinc and vitamin A can help to reduce outbreaks.

Keep Reading...

I have recently been very upset to find my seven year old has caries in one of his teeth. Well I say upset; that’s an understatement. I was shocked. I mean, I am a Dietitian; how the heck could my child have caries? His diet is great, generally, for a seven year old. He never drinks fizzy or sugary drinks (except a bit of lemonade when we go abroad on holidays), never ever has sweets or lollies (I’m not keen on them and have been very conscious of avoiding them to protect his teeth) and we brush his teeth twice a day. I had to have a long hard think about what was going wrong.

Keep Reading...

Frustrated by trying to get your kids to eat their vegetables? Tried everything?
What about hiding them in other foods, sneaking them into muffins and purees or blending them into pasta sauces? How do you feel about that?

Keep Reading...