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Friday June 25th
Just letting you know I’m off on hols for a week so you won’t be hearing anything from me till Monday 5th July. I’m off to Spain and France on a food exploration tour so I hope to come back with plenty of recipe ideas… In the meantime, take this opportunity to flick through the range of recipes I have on the website already.. there is plenty to chose from to keep you on the healthy eating path while I’m away!!!!
I found this article below to give you an idea of what I’ll be eating…
Eat well
Lucy
The benefits of a Mediterranean Diet
WebMD Feature
When we think of the Mediterranean diet, we picture Europeans leisurely dining on meals of fish, vegetables, fruits, olives, and crusty whole-grain bread dunked in olive oil, along with a glass of wine.
For thousands of years, residents of the Mediterranean coastal region have enjoyed this kind of delicious diet — high in plant foods and monounsaturated fats (like olive oil) — while getting plenty of regular physical activity. They don’t think of their eating habits as a diet plan; it’s simply their way of life. And it’s a way of life that apparently leads to long, healthy lives virtually free of chronic disease.
For the past 50 years, scientists have studied the eating patterns characteristic of the Mediterranean diet — and they continue to find additional health benefits. Recently, a large study published in journal BMJ showed that healthy people who followed a Mediterranean diet had a lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
Further, a recent study published in The New England Journal of Medicine showed that a restricted-calorie Mediterranean diet (as well as a low-carb diet) could be even more effective for weight loss than a low-fat diet, while also offering other health benefits.
“Research continues to demonstrate that being physically active and eating a nutritious diet of primarily whole foods that are filling and satisfying can enable people to control weight, lower blood pressure [and] cholesterol levels, reduce risk of diabetes, heart disease [and] Alzheimer’s disease, and basically protect against chronic diseases,” says cardiologist Arthur Agatston, MD, creator of the South Beach Diet, based on the Mediterranean diet model.
What Makes the Mediterranean Diet So Healthy?
What is it about the Mediterranean diet that makes it so healthy?
A diet rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, beans, and seeds provides thousands of micronutrients, antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals that can help protect against cancer, heart disease, and Alzheimer’s disease, among other conditions, experts say.
The multiple factors at work in the Mediterranean diet, Agatston explains, provide health benefits that “cannot be replaced by a supplement.”
Monounsaturated fats, found in avocado, fish, canola and olive oils, are anti-inflammatory and fight disease at the cellular level. And olive oil, with its rich monounsaturated fat content, has gotten lots of attention. But according to a study published in The New England Journal of Medicine in 2003, it may not be the olive oil itself, but the interaction or synergy between all the foods that leads to the health benefits.
Studies show the Mediterranean diet’s protective effect against obesity and type 2 diabetes is likely due to its high proportion of plant foods, fish, and olive oil, along with moderate consumption of alcohol.
“A Mediterranean diet is high in fiber, which slows down digestion, preventing wild swings in blood sugar; reduces insulin resistance (a precursor of type 2 diabetes); and improves insulin sensitivity to reduce obesity and type 2 diabetes,” says Agatston.
Thursday June 24th
Please find below my article in this week’s Cork Independent:
http://www.corkindependent.com/lifestyle/lifestyle/food-for-living-%11-24th-june-2010/
I’m getting great sweet baby turnips from the community garden at the moment and if I’m not grating them into my salads I’m roasting them like this. Graham, a dear friend of mine, bought me a special chip making roasting tray which really means that a teaspoon of oil is plenty! I noticed on the ingredient list on a bag of crisps I was looking at the other day that 31% of the crisps were sunflower - take control back on the amount of oil you use by cooking them yourself at home…
Root vegetable chips
You can make chips with any of these vegetables – turnip (very yummy), carrots, parsnip, and sweet potato. I find that if you try to cook too much at once, the crisps don’t work so well. For this reason, I’ve simply put one vegetable in at a time. You can also add whichever spice you want – paprika, chilli, ground cumin, turmeric etc
1 carrot (or root vegetable of your choice)
1 teaspoon of oil
Sea salt and freshly cracked pepper
A dash of paprika (optional)
Preheat over to 160 oc
Peel the carrots with a peeler and once all of the skin has been removed, keep on peeling. The result will be a mixing bowl filled with strips of carrot. The only one this doesn’t work for is turnip; here I simply thinly slice the turnip (you can do this with any of the vegetables)
Sprinkle with vegetable with the oil and a pinch of salt and pepper. If you want to add the paprika, do so now.
Give the mixture a good mix with your hands.
Place some baking paper on the baking tray (this saves washing up) and spread the carrots evenly over this.
Place in oven for about 20 mins – keep checking and stirring around carrots so they won’t stick. The carrots will start to crisp up nicely and are great idea to eat while watching the world cup!
Wednesday 23rd June
Sometimes I forget that making a quick healthy meal is so easy and tasty. People think that it needs hours of preparation.. no it doesn’t! What it does need is planning so that when you open the cupboard or fridge there are plenty of options.
I had this simple side salad for my lunch yesterday. Always add a side salad or extra vegetables to your dish. At lunch you might grab a sandwich or a soup, order a salad on the side to bulk up the meal with as many veggies as possible.
Fennel and Tomato Salad
1 small fennel bulb
Handful of cherry tomatoes - about 6
1 lime
A dash of extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt and cracked pepper
Slice the Fennel bulb really thinly (take off any outer rough bits) and place in a mixing bowl. Luckily, I got a fennel bulb with some of its greens attached so I removed the greens and finely sliced them to make about a tablespoon of chopped herbs.
Slice the tomatoes in half and mix with the sliced fennel.
Squeeze the lime and add along with the olive oil. Season to taste.
The perfect side salad.
Wheat free, gluten free, dairy free and sugar free
If you are interested in getting a menu designed to suit your nutrition needs, contact me on lucy@spogsracing.com
Tuesday June 22nd
Just found this article on the Top 10 most filling foods - thought it might be of use. One thing I notice is that people who come into my clinic are rarely satisfied after they eat and so tend to then crave sweet things afterwards. Try eating meals that have both some form of protein (nuts and seeds, beans and lentils, eggs or lean meat) and some form of whole grain carbohydrate (brown rice, wholewheat pasta, quinoa or brown bread) and you’ll notice those cravings reduce!
We all know we need to eat less to lose weight but doing so can be much harder ‘said’ than ‘done’ when hunger pangs, food cravings and the irresistible urge to snack takes hold. That’s why the ‘Satiety Index’ developed by experts at the University of Sydney really can be a dieters best friend.
What is the ‘Satiety Index’?
At its simplest, the satiety index, is a measure of how long a particular food will stop you from feeling hungry. It was first developed by Dr Susanne Holt back in 1995. Holt and her colleagues fed volunteers 240 calorie portions of a wide variety of different foods in an attempt to discover which would be the most filling. The foods were served from under a hood to minimize the influence of appearance, and, if possible, they were served at the same temperature and in the same size chunks.
After eating, the volunteers told the researchers what their appetite ratings were, but they were not allowed anything else for the next two hours. Then, after two hours, they were allowed to eat from a small buffet where the scientists measured how much they nibbled from a variety of other foods. Their consumption was closely monitored, and every 15 minutes they were questioned about their hunger to see if their subjective impression of satisfaction matched their eating behaviour. Using this information, Holt and her colleagues were able to put together the satiety index . White bread was taken as the baseline of 100 and other foods were scored on their comparative ability to satisfy hunger. Foods scoring higher than 100 were more satisfying than white bread whereas those scoring under 100 were less satisfying.
So, what are the top ten most filling foods?
1. Potatoes (323% more satisfying than white bread)
2. Fish (225%)
3. Porridge/Oats/Oatmeal (209%)
4. Apples (197%) and Oranges (202%)
5. Wholewheat Pasta (188%)
6. Beef (176%)
7. Beans (168%)
8. Grapes (162%)
9. Wholemeal Bread (157%)
10. Popcorn (154%)
What Makes These Foods So Filling?
Protein
Protein has been shown by numerous studies to be one of the most satiating nutrients. Scientists at the National Institute for Medical Research in France have recently discovered that during its digestion, glucose is produced in the small intestine. The liver senses this and relays a message to the brain to slow down or stop eating — an effect that lasts well after the food has been swallowed.
Fibre
Unlike protein, fibre promotes satiety by slowing the rate at which the food is actually digested. It also triggers stretch receptors in the stomach which automatically sends a signal to the brain to stop eating.
Water Content
Foods with a high fluid content such as apples, oranges and grapes also trigger thestretch receptors however, they are mostly made of water and sugars therefore the speed at which they are digested means that, unlike most other high S.I foods initial feelings of fullness can drop of fairly quickly. “This is why” explains Dr Holt “ that when a dieter eats a meal based on several pieces of fruit and some rice cakes (also very quick to digest) they invariably feel ravenous a few hours later. Despite the meal being low in fat and calories it isn’t at all filling. Far better to eat a wholesome salad sandwich on wholegrain bread with some lean protein like tuna or beef and an apple. This kind of meal can keep hunger at bay for a very long time.”
Volume
Another thing that increases a food’s S.I rating is its bulk. Popcorn for example only contains 55 calories per cup but it takes up a lot of space in the stomach helping to create the feelings of fullness. Fat on the other hand is the exact opposite. At 9 Kcal per gram fat is the most energy dense nutrient we can eat. Just one tablespoon of clotted cream has almost four times more calories than a whole cup of popcorn and yet it takes up far less space in the stomach making it incredibly easy to over consume. Fat greatly enhances the taste of a food too, another reason why we find it so easy to over consume.
Chemical Compounds
The chemical constituents of foods can also make a difference to satiety. Beans and lentils, for example, contain anti-nutrients which delay their absorption. Another reason why they have a tendency to make you feel full for longer.
Chewing
Chewing promotes satiety, partly because it slows down eating but also because it encourages the release of enzymes that register fullness in the brain.