Healty

Bread. Depending on your own health situation and philosophy, you’ll either bounce right back off this page or devour it.   Bread seems to be one of those topics that insights a passionate response from everyone. When working with weight loss clients, I often suggest that they eat less bread. Whoa. I would probably get a better response if I suggested they run away and join a cult. The look of horror on peoples face and the confused expression as they try to work out else they’re supposed to eat… it always surprises me. Why? Because I hardly eat bread. I certainly grew up on it, in fact up until my mid-teens it was ALL I would eat. You’d never guess I was so headstrong and fussy my diet was predominantly nutella sandwiches, a huge thick layer of nutella between 2 slices of white bread, and if you zap it in the microwave, it goes all runny and goopy. There’s a special way you eat it so the nutella doesn’t drip out the side. Obviously building the basis of a strong nutrit...

Steaming your green leafies increases mineral absorption Dark green vegies like spinach, chard and beet leaves contain anti nutritional factors like oxalates. These oxalates are called anti nutritional factors because they reduce the absorption of other nutrients. In the case of oxalates, they reduce calcium absorption. While you can’t eliminate oxalates from your greens all together, you can reduce them by up to 15% by lightly cooking the greens. Note that I said lightly, overcooking them just lowers their nutritional value across the board. Lightly cooking your greens will reduce your total intake of oxalates and assist in improving your mineral absorption. Increase lycopene absorption by processing your tomatoes This is one of those times where you’ll hear me recommend something seemingly contradictory. Ill often suggest you don’t eat processed food, however in the case of tomatoes, the more processed the better. Lycopene is a carotenoid (similar to beta-...

How often do you think about the health of your bones? Despite their vital function, our bones seem to be a little undervalued, particularly in our younger years. The fact is however that we’d be in a whole lot of trouble without them. Unfortunately we don’t often see the effects of our diet and lifestyle choices on our bone health until we’re older and discover we have osteoporosis or another disease of the bone. By that point it’s too late to rectify the situation and all we can hope for is to reduce further damage. The good news is that our bones are an ever changing structure. There is a constant movement of minerals in and out of our bones, and a constant building and breakdown of bone tissue. This is a natural occurrence and happens in response to the daily supply of nutrients we provide and the demands we place on our bodies. Whether you’re 25 or 60, you can use these basic principles of diet and lifestyle to improve the structure and function of your bones so they’ll best...

Beans are a nutritious addition to any diet. They are low GI, high in fibre and contribute to your daily protein intake. You may be familiar with the more commonly eaten kidney beans, cannellini beans or chickpeas, but what about black beans? Black beans contain on average 24grams carbohydrate per 100gram serve, with 9 grams fibre and around 9 grams protein. This makes them a great contributor of protein to a vegetarian diet. Nutritionally, Black beans are high in vitamin B1, magnesium, phosphorus and manganese, they also have a decent amount of folate (B9). However they contain most of the B vitamins, albeit in smaller amounts, including B2, B3, B5 and B6. They also contain calcium, copper, zinc and selenium. The black colour of the skin is provided by anthocyanins which are both antioxidants and anti-inflammatory. Why include black beans in your diet? Black beans are great for digestive health. The fibre in black beans assists the movement of sto...