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Shift Nutrition

Dietitian & Nutritionist

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Home / Nutrition

by Skye Swaney Leave a Comment

3 Very Simple Christmas Salads

A much as I love Christmas time, the one down side is that there’s always just far too much to do. Aside from all the Christmas parties and catch ups, there’s the shopping, wrapping presents, writing cards –  and on top of all of that then there’s the cooking!

While some very organised people are making their plum puddings a year in advance, if you’re anything like me you’ll be wrapping your presents on Christmas Eve and trying to throw together your contribution to the Christmas spread on Christmas morning.

If you need to pull together a few sides or you’ve been asked to bring a salad or dessert and are wondering how you’re possibly going to find the time, don’t panic! These recipes are incredibly quick to make but look impressive enough to be worthy of Christmas day (and no one needs to know that they’re healthy too!).

Merry Christmas!
eton-mess-1-12
[Read more…]

Filed Under: Nutrition Tagged With: berries, christmas, fruit, nutrition, peach, salad, vegetables

by Skye Swaney 1 Comment

My Top Tips For A ‘Healthy’ Christmas

shutterstock_339813524Every year at this time we’re bombarded with endless ‘How to avoid Christmas weight gain’ articles that pop up on the internet and in various magazines and newspapers. While I’m all for healthy eating, this always make me a little bit sad. It seems that instead of focusing on the opportunity to kick back and relax, spend time with our families and enjoy delicious food that we don’t normally eat, Christmas is being portrayed as a battleground of overindulgence, guilt and stress about weight gain.

In my opinion Christmas just isn’t the time for advice about packing your own healthy snacks, going for the salad instead of the roast potatoes and having fruit instead of dessert. Instead, it should be a time to loosen up a bit on our usual restraint and restriction and enjoy a little indulgence.

However, on the other hand, we can fall into the trap of overindulging just because it’s Christmas – and spending the rest of the day groaning on the couch wishing we hadn’t eaten so much.

So how can you enjoy a bit of indulgence at Christmas without going overboard?  [Read more…]

Filed Under: Nutrition Tagged With: christmas, healthy

by Skye Swaney 1 Comment

10 Ways To Add More Protein To Your Breakfast

choc-pb-overnight-oats-1904Despite going to the effort of having a healthy breakfast, many people find that they’re ravenous again two hours later. Unfortunately for most, the staple breakfast of cereal and milk just isn’t that satisfying.

So how can you improve the staying power of your breakfast and avoid raiding the office biscuit tin every morning? [Read more…]

Filed Under: Nutrition Tagged With: breakfast, carbohydrates, chocolate, cocoa, oats, peanut butter, protein

by Skye Swaney Leave a Comment

Do You Really Need To Eat Breakfast?

breakfast muffins 5-1701 When it comes to healthy morning habits, I’m not one to preach the virtues of drinking a litre of warm lemon water, performing 17 sun salutations and meditating for an hour before starting your day.  I love my morning coffee as much as the next person, and a morning workout for me generally consists of hitting the snooze button repeatedly for 20 minutes. But there is one morning ritual I will preach the merits of, and that’s breakfast.

I know this advice is nothing new. We all get told we should eat breakfast, in fact the health and fitness industry sounds like one giant broken record when it comes to this topic. But it’s for good reason; although perhaps not the reasons you might think…. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Nutrition Tagged With: breakfast, healthy, muffins

by Skye Swaney 1 Comment

5 Things You Don’t Need To Be Healthy

shutterstock_269511065Unless you’re replacing your morning coffee with kale juice, dragging yourself out of bed at 5am for another punishing workout and spending your entire Sunday afternoon preparing food for the week, these days it can feel like you’re just not trying hard enough. It seems that being healthy has become a full time job, with overtime.

We can mostly blame social media for this, with ‘healthy lifestyles’ now paraded all over Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat and basically anywhere you look. Impressive as these displays of dedication are,  I don’t really blame people for feeling like they just can’t quite be bothered with it all. Witnessing the endless stream of health and fitness routines is exhausting enough, let alone actually trying to do any of this stuff yourself.

But rest assured, looking after yourself doesn’t have to mean a lifetime of abstinence and self flagellation. Here are just a few of the many things you don’t actually need to do to be healthy: [Read more…]

Filed Under: Nutrition Tagged With: detox, healthy

by Skye Swaney Leave a Comment

10 Easy Ways To Make Vegetables Taste Amazing

IMG_2971I’m lucky to be a natural born veggie lover. But if being a dietitian has taught me anything, it’s that not everyone shares this love! We all know we need to eat our veggies though, and in fact, they should really make up the bulk of what we eat. So what to do if you just don’t like them? Don’t despair, here are a few little tricks I like to use to jazz them up a bit.

1.Add a little bit of olive oil and a pinch of salt
This is almost too simple to mention, but you just can’t underestimate the transformative powers of adding  a little fat and salt to your veggies, particularly the green ones. Plain, steamed broccoli, beans or Brussels sprouts don’t get many people excited, and are likely to be totally shunned by non-veggie lovers, but add a drizzle of olive oil and a tiny pinch of salt and suddenly they take on a whole new dimension. I do this while they’re still in the pan so that you can give them a good toss around and get them nice and evenly coated. Plus, a little bit of fat helps our bodies to absorb many of the vitamins from the veggies too. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Nutrition Tagged With: salad, vegetables

by Skye Swaney Leave a Comment

The 6 Most Common Nutrition Myths

Busting a few of my favourite nutrition myths in Huffington Post Australia:

Screen Shot 2016-02-26 at 11.56.43 am

Click here to check out the article

Filed Under: Nutrition

by Skye Swaney Leave a Comment

The Only Salad Dressing Recipe You’ll Ever Need

IMG_1167 (1)Making you own salad dressing might seem like one more thing you just don’t have time for, but it can literally be done in about 30 seconds. Plus, it’s so much better than the stuff you buy at the supermarket which is generally full of artificial ingredients and added sugar.

Most salad dressings boil down to a very simple combination of ingredients – the secret is having the right combination of oil, acidity and sweetness.  If you can learn the simple formula for this combination you’ll be able to whip up your own delicious and super healthy salad dressing without so much as a glance at a recipe book.

So, here is the magic formula: [Read more…]

Filed Under: Nutrition

by Skye Swaney Leave a Comment

Why The Perfect Diet Might Be No Diet At All

If you’ve been searching for the perfect diet,  check out my guest post for Foodwatch, you might just find the answer!

 

Screen Shot 2016-02-26 at 11.57.38 am

Click here to read the article

Filed Under: Nutrition

by Skye Swaney 6 Comments

The 5 Step Guide To A Healthy Lunchbox (Kids Will Actually Eat)

IMG_6203
Packing your child’s lunchbox can be a daunting experience, especially for new school parents. In fact, I’ve heard of corporate executives who admit to having more anxiety about what they’re putting in their child’s lunchbox than they do about big presentations!

And it’s no wonder. Not only is there nutrition to think about, there are also food safety issues, school packaging and allergy policies, and most importantly what your child will actually eat! And then there is of course the pressure to send your child off to school with Pinterest inspired lunch boxes complete with sandwiches shaped as Disney characters, homebaked ‘sugar free’ muffins and origami handwritten notes which, lovely as they are, almost no one actually has time to make.

But packing a nutritionally balanced, safe, school rule abiding lunch that kids will actually eat doesn’t have to be another source of stress in your day.  I’ve broken it down into five basic steps to try and make it a bit easier. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Nutrition Tagged With: kids, lunch

by Skye Swaney Leave a Comment

The Perfect Breakfast: Homemade Toasted Muesli

muesliMuesli is one of the best breakfasts going around. Its got plenty of low GI carbohydrates and fibre thanks to the oats and dried fruit, plus protein and healthy fats from the nuts and seeds – everything you want in a super healthy breakfast.

But while muesli tastes great, there’s something about the crunchiness of toasted muesli which is even better. Unfortunately, commercially made toasted muesli is usually full of added sugar, fat and salt – not exactly the basis of a healthy breakfast. But this doesn’t mean you have to go back to the raw stuff.

Making your own toasted muesli is not only amazingly satisfying, it also means you can add in all your favourite ingredients and you know exactly what’s in it. Plus, you can make up a big batch to last you a few weeks – an activity guaranteed to leave you feeling virtuous on a Sunday afternoon. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Nutrition, recipes Tagged With: breakfast, muesli, recipe

by Skye Swaney Leave a Comment

How To Pick A Healthy Work Lunch: The 20 Second Checklist

healthy burgerIf you work full time, in 2015 you would have consumed almost 240 work lunches. That’s a lot of lunches, and a decent chunk of your overall diet, –  which means that the choices you’ve made and the foods you’ve eaten have likely had a big influence on your health.

The healthiest lunches are generally the ones you make yourself. Unfortunately, most of us are just not that organised and instead have to navigate the minefield of food courts and cafes with their overwhelming array of choice.

But despite all this choice, identifying a healthy option can still be a battle and it’s tempting just to stick with your favourite chicken schnitzel roll, convincing yourself that it contains chicken, lettuce and tomato and therefore must be healthy, right?

So, how to pick a healthy option? Let’s break it down. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Nutrition Tagged With: carbs, healthy lunch, lunch, protein

by Skye Swaney Leave a Comment

Why Diets Don’t Work

diets shift nutrition dietitian

Most of us know the basics of nutrition and how to eat well – after all, it’s not rocket science. So why do so many people struggle to maintain a healthy weight, wage a constant war with their bodies and go from one diet to the next, convincing themselves that this time it will be different?

The truth is that basically any ‘diet’ will work, if you stick to it. The problem is that we can’t stick to them, they’re just not sustainable. Restriction always leads to overcompensation.

If you’ve ever tried going on a diet, you probably experienced some initial weight loss before inevitably ‘falling off the wagon’ when you got bored, felt deprived and decided it was all just too hard. Then came the guilt, despair and resolve to start another diet, (one that you would definitely stick to this time!). But first you would eat all those ‘bad foods’ because who knows when you’ll have another opportunity – maybe never!  And so the cycle continued…. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Nutrition Tagged With: diet, diets

by Skye Swaney Leave a Comment

5 Nutrition Myths I Hear All The Time

shift nutrition dietitian When it comes to nutrition, it seems that the truth just doesn’t sell.

As a dietitian, I spend a lot of time debunking nutrition myths, which range from the partly true to the completely ridiculous. While some of these can admittedly be entertaining, it’s also frustrating that so many people are being given inaccurate nutrition information which they believe, and even follow, for years to come. I hate to think how much time and effort is wasted because of some of these myths. So I’m busting a few of my favourites once and for all: [Read more…]

Filed Under: Nutrition

by Skye Swaney Leave a Comment

Does Eating Red Meat Cause Cancer?

red meat cancer shift nutrition dietitian The link between red meat and cancer, and particularly processed meat and cancer has been a controversial topic for a while now. But what’s the real story – and do you need to step away from the steak? [Read more…]

Filed Under: Nutrition Tagged With: meat

by Skye Swaney Leave a Comment

How To Stock Your Pantry For Super Quick, Healthy Meals

As a dietitian, it’s embarrassing to admit that I’m not at all organised when it comes to meal planning. I break all the rules about efficient shopping and my trips to the supermarket are generally sporadic and poorly planned.

shutterstock_188402957But one thing I am organised about is making sure that there are always a handful of staple items in my pantry. This habit, along with a very handy fruit shop across the road and a few eggs in the fridge, means that I can basically always whip up a pretty decent meal without the need for a highly inconvenient dash to the supermarket. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Nutrition

by Skye Swaney 1 Comment

My Top 10 Nutrition Hacks

nutrition advice healthy eating shift nutrition

Nutrition has become such a complicated, controversial and overwhelming topic, I really don’t blame anyone for wanting to just give up on it. Except that we all need to eat, and most of us want to eat well – so unfortunately that’s not really an option. So here are my top 10 tips to help cut through the confusion about nutrition and make eating well a bit easier. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Nutrition Tagged With: carbs, health, snacks

by Skye Swaney Leave a Comment

How To Create A Superfood In 3 Simple Steps

superfood healthy eating shift nutrition Want to know the secret to developing the next overhyped, billion dollar ‘superfood’?

Here’s the age old, proven method as demonstrated by an unlikely marketing genius:

Step 1: Take a fairly ordinary but nutritious food
In Russia in 1774, potatoes were fed to pigs, and even peasants refused to eat them. The Russian Orthodox Church even declared them unfit for human consumption due to the fact that they weren’t mentioned in the Bible. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Nutrition

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How Much Water Do You Really Need To Drink?

 

thirsty-man-937395_1280The ‘drink more water’ message has been drilled into most of us since we were kids, and it’s a widely held belief that you need to drink 2 litres/8 glasses of water per day to prevent you from becoming dehydrated. But is this actually the case?

Actually no, not exactly. Yes, humans need water (it’s essential for basically all of the things our body does including digestion, absorption of nutrients and even keeping us at the right temperature), and it’s true that we need roughly about 2-2.5 litres per day, but there’s a bit more to it than that. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Nutrition Tagged With: hydration, water

by Skye Swaney 1 Comment

How To Decode Food Labels In 5 Simple Steps

Food labels healthy eating shift nutrition Learning to read food labels can be one of the best ways to make sure you’re choosing the healthiest foods possible. But they can seem like a mess of confusing words, dubious claims and intimidating tables, and let’s be honest, we generally want to get out of the supermarket as quickly as possible, not spend hours standing in the aisles reading labels!

So I’m going to break it down into 5 steps you can follow so that you can quickly decode all the information and ultimately work out if this is a food you want to be eating or not. Here they are: [Read more…]

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The Truth About Carbs

bread carbohydrate healthy eating shift nutrition Poor, misunderstood carbs. If there’s one piece of weight loss advice that seems to have brainwashed the world, it would have to be that ‘carbs make you fat’. Carbohydrate has become a dirty word with low carb diets promoted as being the easiest way to lose weight, fast.

But the truth is there is nothing magically ‘fattening’ about carbs. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Nutrition Tagged With: carbs

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My Top 10 Healthy Snacks

healthy snacks shift nutrition ‘What can I snack on that’s healthy?’ would have to be one of the most common food related questions I get asked.

When it comes to sticking to a healthy diet, avoiding overeating and staying on top of cravings, snacking can be your best friend.

Snacking often gets a bad rap because of its association with highly processed foods high in saturated fat, sugar and salt (aka junk food). But having two or three snacks in between meals can be really helpful in keeping your energy levels up and preventing you from getting so hungry that you devour the first thing in sight as soon as you walk in the door at night.

And if you choose healthy options, it can be a great chance to get in some extra nutrients too. [Read more…]

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The 5 Step Formula for Amazing Salads

How To Make Amazing SaladsAs predictable as it may be, I love a good salad.  They are definitely one of my favourite things to ‘cook’ – and not just because they are quick and healthy but because you can be really creative and basically just make them up as you go along. Plus, I love all the different textures and flavours you get from a salad. But as much as I like to freestyle when it comes to salad making,  I find that following this formula always leads to great results.

lentil beetroot salad nutrition1. Choose a bulking ingredient. This will make up the majority of the salad volume-wise but will likely be the least exciting bit. For example:
Rocket
Baby spinach
Mixed lettuce
Kale
Rice
Pasta
Quinoa
Kidney, cannellini beans, lentils or chickpeas

2. Choose a protein
This is the backbone of the salad, where you can take it from a side to a meal in itself. If you do just want a side salad, feel free to leave this out. Otherwise, try one of these:

Sweetcorn and blackbean saladChicken – pan fry a chicken breast and slice or shred
Beef – as above
Salmon – bake or pan fry and flake
Bacon – sliced and fried until crispy
Egg – hard boiled and sliced or poached
Beans or chickpeas
Lentils.
3.Choose a highlight ingredient – this is the fun bit. I always try to use at least one really interesting ingredient a salad which can take it from everyday to a bit gourmet. The highlight ingredient is the star of the show, the salad’s selling point, so make it a good one!

Ideally it should be something either a bit exotic or with a texture that contrasts the rest of the salad. Some of my favourite highlight ingredients are:

persimmon salad nutrition Wild rice
Goats cheese, feta or blue cheese
Candied walnuts
Olives
Any sort of toasted nuts – almonds, pine nuts, cashews, walnuts, pecans
Avocado
Dates
Fennel

4. Choose a colourful ingredient.
The best looking salads are colourful ones. So make sure you choose something that will stand out and make the salad look beautiful. Some great colourful additions are:

Pumpkin (cut into cubes and roasted)
Pomegranate seeds
mixed bean salad nutrition Cherry tomatoes
Red capsicum
Beetroot (roasted and quartered)
Spanish onion
Pink grapefruit
Strawberries
Figs

NB: The highlight and colourful ingredients can be the same thing!

5. Choose a dressing
I tend to use the same dressing for most of my salads which is really quick and easy to make:
1/3 cup olive oil + 1/4 cup lemon juice or balsamic/white/red wine vinegar + 1 teaspoon mustard and 1 teaspoon honey

For something a bit fancier I might use pomegranate molasses or a flavoured vinegar and olive oil.
Or if its an Asian style salad I’ll use a combination of lime juice, fish sauce, sesame oil, sweet chilli sauce and maybe a bit of soy sauce.

Ultimately, the secret to a great salad is to have contrasting colours, flavours and textures so it looks and tastes great. And remember, the best thing about salads is that there are no rules. You’re unlikely to completely stuff it up so be creative!

Want some salad recipes? Here you go

roast pumpkin feta salad nutrition

Filed Under: Nutrition

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The Ultimate Guide To Protein

eggs protein shift nutrition Protein definitely deserves some credit for managing to become both the most overrated and underrated nutrient simultaneously.

On one hand, there’s a billion dollar industry convincing anyone who sets foot in a gym that they might as well not even bother unless they’re going to have a protein shake afterwards.

On the other hand, with our dependence on carbohydrates (breakfast cereal, bread, rice, pasta, fruit), often protein gets forgotten. Including protein at each meal is one of the most common pieces of advice I give to clients who are struggling with overeating, cravings and low energy levels.

Tell me why?
Protein is used by the body to repair and build muscle, which is happening to all of us, all the time (not just body builders). It also plays an important role in filling us up and keeping our blood sugar levels more stable and appetite in check. Most of us eat plenty of protein, but often we have most of it at night or for just one meal of the day. If your diet during the day is mostly made up of breakfast cereal, bread, fruit and vegetables, followed by a big steak or chicken breast at dinner, chances are you could benefit from spacing out your protein a bit more evenly. 

almonds-768699_1280 (1)Protein = satisfaction
Per calorie, protein is more satiating (filling) than both carbohydrate and fat. It also requires more energy (calories) to digest, so its a win/win for those looking to reduce their overall calorie intake.  So by adding protein to each of your meals, you’re basically getting more bang for your buck from that meal and reducing the likelihood you’ll want to reach for a snack 1.5 hours after finishing your cornflakes.

OK, sold – where do I sign up? 
The best sources of protein are meat, poultry and fish. Other good sources include eggs and dairy foods, beans and legumes (chickpeas, lentils), nuts and seeds and soy products such as tofu, tempeh.

How much do I actually need?
Not that much actually. As a general guide, you need around 0.8-1.0g per kg or body weight if you’re fairly sedentary (office job + small amounts of exercise). If you’re exercising regularly, this will increase to around 1.2-1.7g/kg, depending on gender, what kind of exercise you’re doing at what intensity and how long you’ve been training for.

Enough numbers, what does that actually look like?
70kg female office worker, light exercise = 56-70g/day

The following foods contain around 10g protein each:

Screen Shot 2015-08-18 at 9.42.43 pm

Not all proteins are equal
Often certain foods are marketed as being a ‘complete’ source of protein. This basically means that they contain all of the ‘essential’ amino acids our body cannot produce on its own.

protein shift nutrition Sorry, amino what?
Without getting too sciency – amino acids are the building blocks of protein. There are 20 different amino acids, of these, 9 are considered ‘essential’ because our body can’t produce them itself so needs to get them from our diet. Most animal sources of protein contain all 20 amino acids, however, most plant proteins lack at least one, so it’s a good idea to consume a range of different plant proteins. Some examples of ‘complete’ plant proteins are quinoa and soy.

Protein supplements 101
The best sources of protein are whole, minimally processed foods in as natural a state as possible – meat, eggs, dairy products, nuts, seeds and legumes, as we’ve covered. But that’s not to say there’s no place at all for protein shakes and other protein supplements.

If you’re doing a lot of resistance training and lifting heavy weights your protein requirements will be elevated. Insufficient protein or overall energy = minimal muscle growth. It’s best to get this extra protein from food, but it’s not always convenient to tuck into a steak right after the gym.  So, in some cases, protein supplements can be a good option from a convenience perspective, just don’t be fooled into thinking that they’re a ‘health food’. At the end of the day its another highly processed food that  wouldn’t recognise its original food source (milk? soy beans? rice?) if it smacked it in the face. They also often have a lot of artificial ingredients added which our bodies don’t need (although it is possible to make your own ‘protein shake’ without protein powder).

And remember, simply taking protein powder or eating protein bars won’t magically make you build muscle or tone up – you need to be giving your body a reason to change first through good old fashioned exercise.

What happens if I eat more protein than I need?
Your body can’t store excess protein – but if it’s not needed for muscle building and repair, it can be used as fuel instead. If you’re just getting protein from food and not supplementing, the risk of eating too much is low in a healthy person. If you’re downing protein shakes and bars on top of a normal diet, you might be overdoing it.

So what should I eat?
Aim to include some protein in each of your meals, for example:

Breakfast
Cereal? Add some yoghurt (Greek yoghurt is higher in protein than other yoghurt) and have it with milk
Toast? Have it with peanut butter or top it with an egg
Smoothie? Add some milk or soy milk, yoghurt and chia seeds

salad protein shift nutrition Lunch
Sandwich? Add some chicken, tuna or roast beef or egg
Salad? Add some beans or chicken/tuna
Pasta? Go for one with some meat or fish
Sushi? As above

Dinner
Meat and veg? You’re sorted
Pasta? Add some meat or fish
Salad? Add some beans, egg, tofu, meat or fish

P.S – despite its bad rap as the most evil of the carbohydrates, bread can contain a decent amount of protein if you go for the right kind. Two slices of multigrain bread can have up to 12g protein!

So, take home message? Protein is your friend, so try to include some in the majority of your meals. And finally, eat real food when you can, supplement if you must – easy! 

If you want individualised advice about your protein needs, or you have any other nutrition concerns, we would love to help.

Filed Under: Nutrition Tagged With: meat, protein

by Skye Swaney Leave a Comment

The Simple Reason Behind Your Afternoon Chocolate Cravings

chocolate cravings dietitian nutrition diet One of the most common questions I get asked by clients is “why do I always crave chocolate in the afternoon?”

Chocolate cravings are savage beasts. Generally emerging between the hours of 2 and 4pm every day, they attack suddenly and without warning, causing sudden extreme sleepiness, lethargy and the kind of overwhelming cravings that make even a block of Vegemite chocolate an actual viable option.

They will not be ignored and refuse to let you get anything productive done until they get what they want (or you fall asleep, whichever comes first). They assure you that you’ll be far more productive if you just have a little bit (and you’ll only eat half that chocolate bar anyway right?) until you eventually give in and raid the office kitchen/vending machine/your colleagues lolly jar.

But why do they keep picking on you? And more importantly, how can you get rid of them?

There are several reasons for the afternoon emergence of chocolate cravings (or less specific sugar cravings). One reason may be that you’re not sleeping enough – fatigue and stress can increase cravings for sweet foods as our body is telling us we need more energy (translation: sugar). Another reason could be that by repeatedly having something sweet after meals, you’ve accidentally trained your body to expect it. Or maybe its just because chocolate tastes so damn good (and we get a nice little buzz after eating it which is quite addictive). But the most likely culprit is pretty simple – you’re not giving your body what it needs in the first half of the day

This is particularly the case for people who don’t eat breakfast or those who are overly restrictive in their diets. Our bodies are hard wired for survival, and starvation, believe it or not, is a big threat as far as your body is concerned. When we’re hungry our blood sugar levels drop, and low blood sugar levels are perceived as dangerous territory. Your body’s clever way of fixing this problem? Trigger a craving for high sugar foods which will produce the most rapid response in getting blood sugar levels back up into a ‘safe’ range and in doing so keep your survival in check.

But get your blood sugar balance right in the first place and you won’t have to ride the rollercoaster your body sets up later in the day to try and correct them (and you’ll will waste less brain power wondering if anyone would notice if you had a nap under your desk).

Here’s how to do it:

  • Eat breakfast! Even if its just a handful of nuts, a glass of milk, a banana – something small is far better than nothing at all
  • Include some protein in your lunch – eggs, tuna, chicken, lean meat, beans, chickpeas – take your pick
  • Include some low GI carbs in your breakfast and lunch such as oats or other wholegrain cereal, wholegrain bread, rice, pasta or quinoa.
  • Have a healthy snack in between your meals. Fruit, yoghurt or wholegrain crackers with cheese/peanut butter/hummus are all good options
  • Make sure you get enough sleep – sleep deprivation can contribute to cravings and increased snacking so get your 7-8 hours!
  • When cravings strike, instead of panicking, try adopting a curious approach and ask yourself where they might have come from: Are you hungry? Are you bored? Are you trying to put off a task you don’t want to do? Are you tired? Being more aware of why the craving is occurring can be the first step in reducing their impact. If you find you’re not genuinely hungry, try getting up and going for a walk, making a cup of tea, going to chat to a colleague or calling someone and see if this sorts is out
  • And finally, if after all of this you still want something sweet, there’s no reason you can’t have it. But try to think about what you really want and savour it, eating slowly and stopping when it doesn’t take as good anymore. A couple of dates, some dark chocolate, a yoghurt or a piece of fruit could be enough to do the trick.

For more on this topic, read my post on ‘How to win the 3pm vending machine stand off’ 

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Warning: Your Body Is Smarter Than You Are

burger

Do you know what this is?

Krebs cycle

For those of you who studied science, welcome back to second year biochemistry. For those of you who didn’t, this is the Kreb’s cycle – a series of chemical reactions used to generate energy through the oxidation of carbohydrates, fats and proteins.

Or in more simple terms (for those who are still awake) – how our bodies create energy from food.

Anyway, the point of the picture is not to give you a science lesson. It’s to demonstrate that our bodies are extremely complex, and they’re smarter than we’ll ever be. Plus, they’re hardwired for survival – they’ll literally do anything to keep us alive – that’s their job. So when we restrict our deprive them of the nutrients they need, they fight back, and they fight dirty.

Would you take on an opponent who is not only smarter than you but is also more complex, has millions of years experience and is prepared to fight to the death?

Probably not.

So, thinking we can outsmart them through a low carb/detox/intermittent fasting diet is well…a bit ambitious, and will most likely turn out to be a painful waste of time. Your body will work its absolute hardest to maintain the status quo by leaving you so hungry you feel like you could literally eat a horse, craving sugar like it’s an illicit drug and feeling like you could sleep forever. I have no doubt that these diets (or ‘lifestyle changes’) can work amazingly to start with, but sooner or later your body is going to pull rank….and you’re going to lose. 

So what can you do instead?
Like taking on any big opponent, identify your common goals and work towards them together – giving your body what it wants: energy – enough to be comfortable and not at risk of starvation but not too much, nutrients – plenty of fruit and veg, wholegrains, protein, some healthy fats and not too much junk, exercise – enough to keep your heart, joints and mind healthy but not too much, and rest – plenty of it) but also getting what you want (a body that can work hard and play hard but also looks pretty good).

Take home message?
Accept that you can’t outsmart your body. Work against it and eventually you’ll lose. Work with it and you can both win.

Filed Under: Nutrition Tagged With: body, diets, low carb, nutrition, warning

by Skye Swaney Leave a Comment

Drink That Frog! The Easiest Way To Eat More Veg

red smoothie 1-1725I’m the last person to tell you that you need to drink a green smoothie everyday to be healthy….I’m all for moderation and eating foods you love BUT,  you do need to eat your veggies.

Yep, your mum was right, vegetables are good for you…like, really good for you. We know this – and we know we’re meant to eat five serves a day….but how do we fit them all in??

As a dietitian, I’m pretty much a straight A student when it comes to getting my five a day – but my boyfriend is a different story. He spends most of the day in a meeting or running to the next one and barely gets time to eat at all, so whatever he does get time for is not exactly ideal – a ham and cheese sandwich isn’t doing much for the five-a-day tally.

So instead of nagging him to take a salad to work (never going to happen), snack on carrot and celery sticks all day (errr, no) or eat five serves of vegetables for dinner (again, not very likely), we’ve come to a compromise – a smoothie.

A fruit and veg packed smoothie in the morning means you can get half your daily fruit and veg needs before you even leave the house. This of course means you’ll not only be healthier but you’ll also feel all virtuous and high achieving for the rest of the day – win:win!

The best part is, you can basically add whatever you like… and make up a few days worth at a time for super efficiency. And because smoothies contain the whole fruit/veg, they’re a much healthier option than juices (and they don’t have to be green!).

So here’s a recipe to get you started (makes 2 serves)

Ingredients:
1 apple or pear
1 banana
2 sticks celery
1 carrot
Handful spinach or kale
1/2 beetroot
1cm slice ginger

Optional extras:
Handful mint
½ orange
½ lemon or lime, squeezed

 Method: 
Add enough water to cover everything, add some ice if you like and blend it up!

Filed Under: Nutrition

by Skye Swaney Leave a Comment

What Does ‘Healthy’ Mean Anyway?

gluten free dairy free fat free champagne diet I often get asked if a certain food is ‘healthy’. I think I almost always disappoint whoever is asking as my answer is never the one word that people are looking for.

Instead, it’s generally something along the lines of ‘Well, it depends….’ followed by a lengthy explanation of the importance of balance, moderation and context when assessing the health attributes of individual foods.

The word healthy seems to have become one of the most overused and abused words in our vocabulary. If the definition of a healthy food is one that is ‘good for one’s health’, any food could be considered healthy depending on the context. Eating a Mars Bar if you were starving in the desert (for argument’s sake) would surely be the more ‘healthy’ option than eating nothing at all. But does that make Mars Bars healthy?

The classification of foods as ‘healthy’ or ‘unhealthy’ encourages us to see food as black or white, something that is ‘good’ or ‘bad’ and in turn we consider ourselves ‘good’ or ‘bad’ depending on what food choices we make. But instead of relying on this arbitrary description to dictate what foods you eat (or think you should eat), try thinking about the following:

  • Is the majority of what you’re eating whole, minimally processed plant foods (vegetables, legumes, fruit and grains)?*
  • Are you including a good balance of protein, carbohydrates and healthy fats?*
  • Are you listening to your hunger and fullness signals and taking them into account when you decide what, how much and when you eat?*
  • Are you enjoying food without obsessing about it, listening to your body and not eliminating any food groups?

Remember that all food can be part of a ‘healthy’ diet.

*If you’re not sure about any of these points, our dietitians and nutritionists can help.

Filed Under: Nutrition

by Skye Swaney 1 Comment

How to win the 3pm vending machine stand off

sandwich apple healthy eating The daily grind is hard enough without having to deal with low energy levels and the dreaded afternoon slump. We can all relate to the daily battle of the 3pm caffeine and chocolate cravings. But what and when you eat at work can make a huge difference to your day, helping you to feel more energised and focused so that you can concentrate on work instead of the contents of the vending machine!

Here are some tips to help make the working day a bit easier:

  • Regular meals: Keep your energy and concentrations levels high by eating regularly throughout the day, i.e. a meal or snack every 3-4 hours
  • Balance: Aim to have a good balance of protein and carbohydrates in your breakfast and lunch. Protein (e.g. lean meat, eggs, reduced fat dairy, beans/legumes) helps to keep you full while carbohydrates (e.g. bread, rice, pasta) provide energy to get you through the day.
  • Keep it low: Opt for low GI carbohydrates such as wholegrain bread and crackers, rice, pasta, chickpeas and beans – this will help avoid the 3pm chocolate cravings! 
  • Hydrate: Make sure you drink plenty of water – try filling up a large bottle at the start of the day and make sure its finished by the time you go home.
  • DIY: If possible, take your own lunch and snacks to work – this way you can ensure your meals and snacks are as healthy as possible and you’ll also save money
  • Time Out: Make sure you take time out for lunch and take a break from your desk – a quick walk can work wonders!

For more tips and healthy lunch recipes, check out the Shift Nutrition website, or email me to book an appointment

Filed Under: Nutrition

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