Limes & Lycopene is all about food and health. While there’s a glut of information available on these subject, much of it’s confusing, misleading and contradictory. Limes & Lycopene aims to cut through the rubbish, misinformation and downright silliness about health, diet and naturopathy.
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Posted by kathryn in Blogging
I’m signing off now – so it’s officially the end of the inaugural Q&A Thursday. Thanks for all your excellent questions, I’ve enjoyed answering them and I’m looking forward to next week already.
If you do have any more diet dilemmas then leave a comment or send me an emal, and I’ll answer them next Thursday.
2 comments
31 May, 2007
Posted by kathryn in A Balanced Diet, Vegetables and Q & A Thursday
Melanie, the British dietician from Dietriffic, asks about potatoes:
we classify potatoes as a vegetable, however we group it together with the breads and cereals in relation to the food pyramid”, what’s the situation in Australia?
I think we’re as loose with our classification of potatoes as you are in the UK! Yes, potatoes are a vegetable and often included in the classic Australian dinner structure of “meat and three veg”. Our standard nutritional recommendations include having five servings of vegies per day – and potatoes are on the list of vegie options.
However, they are also often talked about with the “carb” foods – bread, rice, pasta, etc – as something you may need to limit, that can have an affect on your blood sugar levels, etc, etc. Like legumes, it’s one of those foods that doesn’t fit neatly into one classification.
Personally, when I’m with clients, I almost always talk about potatoes in the bread / rice / staples category, because of their high carbohydrate and kilojoule content. I tend to emphasise other vegetables to fulfill the daily quota.
No comments
31 May, 2007
Posted by kathryn in Carbohydrates and Q & A Thursday
The next Question in Q & A Thursday is from Andrew and it’s all about rice:
is rice a low fat, low salt, healthy grain, or a carbohydrate-containing food that causes health problems with over consumption?
There’s no black and white answer to this one – it depends on how much you eat and your current health.
While the primary constituent of rice is carbohydrate, it does contain other nutrients:
I’m not a follower of the Atkins diet and I don’t believe in completely cutting out all bread, pasta, rice and potatoes. Carbohydrates provide energy, that fuels our bodies and most of these foods also contain important micro-nutrients, as well as fibre.
However, most people eat too much of these grain-based carbohydrate foods, including rice. Centreing a whole meal around these staples, contributes a lot of kilojoules to your diet. If you’re a heavy-duty exerciser this is okay, but not so good if you’re living a sedentary lifestyle. Given the rates of overweight and obese people, most would be wise to limit how much of these foods they eat.
Most varieties of rice have a high glycemic index (or GI), which means they cause a big spike in blood sugar levels soon after the meal. Again, this is good for athletes on the day of a race, but not for everyone else. The rice with the lowest GI is basmati rice. For more on why this is, take a look at why does jasmine rice have such a huge GI?
Caution: if you have a family history or have been diagnosed with diabetes, metabolic syndrome (syndrome X), pre-diabetes, PCOS, etc, then you would also be wise to limit the total amount of rice you eat and stick to basmati rice only.
This post is part of Q & A Thursday – a weekly burst of blogging, where you get to dictate the subject matter. Q & A Thursday is all about simple, practical and sensible answers to food, diet and health dilemmas sent in by readers. If you have a question you’d like answered, then either leave a comment or send me an email. For more information you can take a look at the Q & A Thursday archives.
Photograph by Brother O’Mara under the terms of a creative commons license
2 comments
31 May, 2007
Posted by kathryn in The Micronutrients, A Balanced Diet and Q & A Thursday
Next on Q & A Thursday a classic vegetarian dilemma from Lucy – how do you know you’re having enough iron?
The only way to 100 percent, guaranteed, know you’re getting enough iron, is to have a blood test. This will tell you if you’re anaemic and if low iron intake is the problem. It’s easy to get done and you’ll have the test results back within days.
Iron can be an issue for vegetarians. The number one iron-containing food is red meat and there’s nothing else quite like it.
Chicken and fish contain virtually no iron – something a lot of meat-eaters don’t realise.
However, there are a number of vegetarian foods that do contain a reasonable dose or iron:
Having these foods with vitamin C containing foods also helps with the absorption – eg tomatoes, citrus, other fruit.
Here in Australia, the recommended daily intake of iron for pre-menopausal women is 18mg per day (for men it’s 8mg per day). Most of us get our daily iron intake from a few different sources. Red meat contains an average of 3mg of iron per 100g of meat, so you’d need to eat a 600g piece to get your iron from red meat alone.
Of the vegetarian sources, 18mg of iron can be found in:
If you are concerned about your iron levels, then see your doctor and get a blood test – it’s the only sure-fire way of knowing you’re getting enough. Anaemia is not much fun – you feel exhausted, dizzy and can have palpitations, so it’s worthwhile checking.
It is possible to get enough iron as a vegetarian, but you need to have a good diet . It needs to be varied and include regular (ie daily or every other day) amounts of legumes, nuts, dried fruit, eggs and green vegies.
This post is part of Q & A Thursday – a fortnightly burst of blogging, where you get to dictate the subject matter. Q & A Thursday is all about simple, practical answers to food and diet dilemmas sent in by readers.
If you have a question you’d like answered, leave a comment below or send me an email. For more information you can take a look at the Q & A Thursday archives.
2 comments
31 May, 2007
Posted by kathryn in A Balanced Diet, Kid's nutrition and Q & A Thursday
Claire has asked a question about mercury and tinned tuna:
We eat a lot of tinned tuna in our family, maybe once or twice a week, sometimes more. We use Serina tuna in oil mostly, and I have concerns about the mercury content of such a product . . . should we be avoiding tinned tuna?
Claire thanks for your question and the short answer is, no, you don’t have to worry about mercury in tinned tuna.
Mercury occurs naturally in our environment, so it’s impossible to completely avoid. However at high levels it’s pretty toxic and can interfere with the development of the central nervous system in unborn babies and young children. You’re right to be careful, although the critical time, when you need to be most aware, is while the baby is developing in the uterus.
Mercury accumulates in the environment, so the further the fish is up the food chain, the higher it’s mercury content.
While a full-grown tuna is a large fish and high up the food chain, the ones that go into tins are generally less than one year old. They haven’t had time to accumulate high mercury levels and are safe to eat while pregnant and breastfeeding. I would limit tuna steaks and sushi though.
While there is a concern about the mercury levels in fish, the benefits from eating fish during pregnancy, while breastfeeding and while kids are little, far, far outweigh the dangers.
Fish is a low fat source of protein. It’s high in zinc, B12 and iodine, plus some fish contain the lovely Omega 3 essential fatty acids. This latter group actually HELP neurological development and there have been a number of studies showing kids that have Omega 3s in their diet, have fewer behavioural problems, better concentration and do better at school.
There’s some really good information about mercury and fish on the NSW Food Authority website, including a list of the fish with low mercury levels , the fish to be careful of and whether cooking affects the mercury levels .
1 comment
31 May, 2007
Posted by kathryn in Shopping Basket, Food Labelling and Q & A Thursday
Today is the inaugural Q & A Thursday – your weekly opportunity to get answers to all those niggling nutrition, food and diet questions.
Matt asks about “lite” yoghurts, following the release of a new Choice report – are they good for you and what exactly qualifies as “lite”.
I have to say that food labelling is one of my favourite topics, so I’m very happy to be starting off with this question.
Matt, I saw the Choice report and I agree with them. This is one of those food labelling loopholes that really annoys me and leads to much confusion among consumer. The use of the words “light” or “lite” are no guarantee that the yoghurt has less fat or fewer kilojoules than other yoghurts. In fact, as the Choice report points out, a number of these yoghurts have as many, if not more, kilojoules as their full fat neighbours. Some of them have the equivalent of seven teaspoons of sugar per 200gram pot.
Food manufacturers have really latched onto our fear of fat – if you look around the supermarket shelves there’s an abundance of products claiming to be healthy based on their fat content.
However, many of these claims are misleading, including the use of “light” and “lite”. While these terms are frequently used, they have no formal definition and are practically meaningless. Depending on the product, “light” can refer to:
In terms of fat content, the only legally defined terms are “low fat”, where the product must contain less than 3% fat, and “fat free”, where the product must have no more than 0.15% fat.
So what yoghurts should you look for? Well, firstly ignore the “light” / “lite” garbage – those terms are not going to help you. However, given that most full fat yoghurt is only about 3.4% fat, even the “low fat” stuff is not giving you much of an advantage.
When you’re at the supermarket, deciding what to buy, it’s important to look at the nutritional labels, rather than the marketing. For yoghurts ignore the fat and carbohydrate values, just check the overall kilojoule content per 100grams . For yoghurts, anything below about 300kJ per 100grams is a low energy product, with the normal being 400 – 650kJ.
Yoghurt is a great food to eat. I love it and have it basically every day. Personally I tend to go for natural, plain, unsweetened yoghurts. I have this with my muesli in the morning and sometimes on fruit in the evening. If I do want it to be a bit sweeter, I’ll add honey – but buying plain yoghurt means I have control over this.
There is so much deviousness out there in the food marketing and labelling world and decoding food labels can be a tricky thing to do. If anyone in Sydney would like to know more, then I’ll be covering all of this in much more detail during my Healthy Shopping Tours.
1 comment
31 May, 2007
Posted by kathryn in Blogging
Just a reminder – the first Q & A Thursday is tomorrow. I’ve had some great questions already and I’m looking forward to answering them. Let me know if you have a food, nutrition or diet dilemma, either by leaving a comment or emailing me directly.
No comments
30 May, 2007
Posted by kathryn in A Balanced Diet
The only thing against my dinner last night – no leftovers. However, I was so smitten with the fetta and yoghurt combination I made some more and had it on my salad for lunch today – this time with finely chopped mint mashed through. Also delicious.
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30 May, 2007
Posted by kathryn in Vegetable recipes and Main courses
I recently asked the question * what’s your perfect mid-week meal * and received some interesting and useful responses .
I had assumed everyone would be after speed and minimal preparation, but readers also commented they were looking for ways to use up leftovers, meals to freeze and how to recycle last night’s dinner into something new and fabulous. I’m still mulling over these answers, but they have persuaded me I need to tweak my recipe categories, as well as alter how I post recipes.
My dinner last night was a perfect example of using up what’s in the fridge and pantry. I hesitate to call it anything as formal and structured as a “recipe”, instead it’s guidelines – super flexible, with many possible variations, depending on what you have in the house .
We do our food shopping once a week and rarely have a menu plan or comprehensive shopping list. Instead I’m guided by what’s in season, produce that looks good and stuff we haven’t had for a while. During the week we then cook with what’s in the house, buying very few extras.
I baked the carrots and parsnips , with a sprinkling of cumin seeds and fresh garlic, plus about a tablespoon of olive oil, as per this recipe .
While they were cooking, I mashed together about 80g of fetta and half a cup of yoghurt, to which I added finely chopped fennel tops. I also cut the cucumber into sticks and sliced the ciabatta bread .
About ten minutes before the carrots were finished, I put the bread in the oven to toast.
I then plated up the bread, put the carrots (with the cucumber and greens mixed through) on top and finished with the fetta and yoghurt mixture.
It was an easy dinner, plus it used up ingredients I already had (including a couple that were starting to get a bit tired) and it tasted beautiful. This idea definitely fits into my personal classification of perfect mid-week meals, as it only took about 15 minutes of prep and then waiting for the carrots to finish cooking, before serving.
As you can see, as long as you have carrots, fetta and yoghurt you can make a version of this. The rest depends on what you have in your fridge and pantry.
:Update:I do have a photo of last night’s dinner, but I’m being a technical duffer at the moment and can’t get the camera and computer to talk to each other – so I’ll add in later.I’ve finally added in the photograph – sorry it’s not brilliant!
1 comment
30 May, 2007
Posted by kathryn in Food Labelling
Food Standards Australia New Zealand have released a new booklet called Choosing the right stuff . It’s a guide to food labels and food additives, as well as the fat and kilojoules of common foods. There’s a report from the SMH here and more info about the booklet on the FSANZ site .
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30 May, 2007
Posted by kathryn in Antioxidants, A Balanced Diet, Fruit and Vegetables
I’ve just been eating a beautiful organic pear and thinking about my other gripe around the super-food concept. It sets up a small and restricted group of foods as being the only ones worth bothering about . As though these were the only foods you needed in your diet.
Which is rubbish. We need variety, we need all sorts of different foods to give us a balanced diet. Yes, the superfoods are high in nutrients and, yes, they do contain a lot of antioxidants, but, they still only contain a limited number of different types of nutrients. They are not comprehensive foods and don’t include everything we need.
Pears are not a super-food, but a pear at it’s peak ripe-ness is a fine, fine thing, worth eating for its taste and texture alone.
Pears also contain fibre, water, vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. You are better to eat a variety of foods, containing different nutrients and different antioxidants, than you are to stick with one super-food.
The first Q&A Thursday is this week – your opportunity to ask any question about food and nutrition. I’ll be (hopefully) providing practical and useful answers to all your diet dilemmas. Just leave your question in a comment, or email me directly.
3 comments
29 May, 2007
Posted by kathryn in Antioxidants, A Balanced Diet, Fruit and Vegetables
I’m not a big fan of the “superfood” concept. Well, it’s not so much the concept itself, as all the promotion and marketing that’s taken over. It seems every year there is a new “superfood”, the one we HAVE to eat in order to have optimum health. This year’s is always bigger and better than last year’s. The latest super-food is never something we eat as a normal part of our diet – it’s always someting super-expensive and hard to find.
This creates the impression that we have to pay a lot of money to have the best health – which just isn’t true.
As you’ll know, I’m a big fan of fruit and vegies and these are pretty super-foods in my book. We don’t all have to eat Himalayan Goji berries and wild blueberries to be getting all the vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and other nutrients we need. The humble apple, oranges, pears, carrots, potatoes, broccoli, pumpkin, cabbage – they’re some of the cheapest fruit and veg around and yet they are packed full of goodness.
I saw this link on Mostly Eating – the article is called “Forget superfoods, you can’t beat an apple a day” and it’s an excellent reality check on the superfood hype. As Jeremy Spencer, of Reading University says:
‘Not only is it completely misleading to break a food down into its component parts and study those one by one, but it is impossible to predict the reactions of individual metabolisms to specific foods. Apart from the fact that the effect of the whole food may be more, or quite different, from the sum of its parts, it is impossible to say each person will have the same physiological result.’
He added: ‘People don’t eat nutrients, they eat foods. And foods can behave very differently to the nutrients they contain and they can have a very different effect in someone’s body than they have when examined in a test tube.’
The answer is (as always), to eat a varied diet. Include plenty of fruit and vegetables, low fat protein and wholegrains. Limit the alcohol and have the occasional treat.
The first Q&A Thursday is this week – your opportunity to ask any question about food and nutrition. I’ll be (hopefully) providing practical and useful answers to all your diet dilemmas. Just leave your question in a comment, or email me directly.
6 comments
29 May, 2007
Posted by kathryn in Health News
A follow up to the previous story – the City of Knox has responded to the Melbourne University research. The local council have joined forces with community and health services to try and make it easier for mums to walk more.
Wendy Smith, the Knox City Council’s coordinator of social planning and research, says the research highlighted the dependence of many Knox residents on their cars for short trips around the neighbourhood.
As a result, the Council, working with the community health centre and other agencies, surveyed local mothers at locations such as parks and pre-schools to determine how they are getting out and about, and what stands in the way of their walking.
They also plan an audit of local streets, paths and walking destinations.
One of the key components is the council are working with mothers to develop strategies to overcome the barriers to moving more.
The first Q&A Thursday is this week – your opportunity to ask any question about food and nutrition. I’ll be (hopefully) providing practical and useful answers to all your diet dilemmas. Just leave your question in a comment, or email me directly.
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28 May, 2007
Posted by kathryn in Health News, A Balanced Diet and Kid's nutrition
A new study shows where you live can influence your health. It’s not surprising news, but this three year study by the University of Melbourne has shown the more fast food outlets and the fewer walking tracks a suburb has, the more unhealthy its residents. Location affects the food residents eat, the amount of exercise they do and their weight.
The report looked at 50 different areas and the food purchasing and exercise habits of about 5,000 residents. The study is the biggest of its kind in Australia, to examine the effects on health of location. As Associate Professor Anna Kavanagh points out, these differences are not just about income:
“It seems that whether you live in a richer or poorer neighbourhood could be a more important factor that your actual individual income,” she says.
“Living in low income areas was still important even after we took into account the fact the individual socio-economic position of the people who lived in the areas. That is, living in low socio-economic areas is harmful for both high income and low income households. This suggests there is something in the physical or other characteristics of low income areas that are preventing people from exercising and making healthy eating choices.”
The lower socio-economic areas, not only had fewer walking opportunities and more fast food outlets, but residents also felt the areas were unsafe and had too much traffic and so were less likely to walk.
Dr Carolyn Whitzman, also from the University of Melbourne is investigating local government initiatives to make children more independently mobile. Her project aims to get more 8 – 11 year olds out walking, cycling and playing. She points out that, in Melbourne, “only one third of children walk more than five minutes a day”.
It’s a big problem and needs to be addressed at many different levels. Parents are obviously of key importance in managing the health of children. However, it’s not just about parents – schools, local councils and communities need to also be involved. I’ve already blogged about the steps Somerville have taken in the US, to counter-act childhood obesity. It’s an excellent example of a community-wide programme that makes it easier for residents to move more and eat well.
Remember:
The first Q&A Thursday is this week – your opportunity to ask any question about food and nutrition. I’ll be (hopefully) providing practical and useful answers to all your diet dilemmas. Just leave your question in a comment, or email me directly. More information here .
1 comment
28 May, 2007
Posted by kathryn in Shopping Basket and A Balanced Diet
I recently came across this article on the current top US food trends and it’s an interesting read.
While we do follow many overseas trends, there are strong differences between the US and Australian food industries.
Dining at home is on the rise in the US, because of economic concerns, however we’re in a different economic situation here in Australia, plus we still have so many reasonably priced eating out and take-away options.
I do think we’re catching the US bug for “next generation” drinks. It’s one of the strongest growing markets in the US and I think a lot of those products are going to make their way over here. For example, Enviga will be launched here in July and speciality bottled water sales are up.
I’d like to think there are movements towards eating more local foods, but I suspect that might be my optimistic bias.
What do you think are the current big Australian food trends?
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26 May, 2007
Posted by kathryn in Blogging and Q & A Thursday
The availability of TV, magazines and the internet mean we’ve never had more diet and nutrition information available to us. Yet it seems people have also never been so confused about what makes up a healthy diet.
One of the things I try to do in my professional life is sort through this clutter of information and provide practical and useful answers. It’s certainly my aim for this blog, but it’s also something I try to do with clients, as well as in my teaching and magazine writing.
To this end, from this week, I’m starting up a weekly monthly Q & A Thursday. If you have questions about food, nutrition or health, then I’ll try to answer them on Limes & Lycopene.
So, if there’s anything about food and nutrition that confuses you, let me know and I’ll try to solve your dilemma during Q & A Thursday.
Update: if you want to view the topics covered so far, take a look at the Q & A Thursday archives.
11 comments
26 May, 2007
Posted by kathryn in Vegetables and Kid's nutrition
I’ve written before on strategies for getting kids to eat more vegetables. Even the best eaters tend to go through a phase where they “go off” vegies. Persistence and consistency are important, but sometimes meals are in danger of becoming a battlefield. In that situation I recommend vegies by stealth:
Hide the vegetables in what you’re making. Add vegetables to soups and then puree the lot; make a risotto with the vegetables grated through; make fritters and burgers that include vegetables.
This sneaky strategy has recently been backed up by research . Scientists from Pennsylvania State University served lunches to children one day per week for four weeks. Some of the lunches included pasta with broccoli and cauliflower blended into the sauce and the kids ate it.
As the researchers pointed out, you don’t want to be hiding vegies all the time. Kids still need to learn what vegetables look and taste like and that they’re a normal part of a healthy meal. However, if you’re having a bad week nutritionally with your kids, then this is a good back-up strategy.
Thanks to Calorie Lab for pointing me to this study.
1 comment
25 May, 2007
Posted by kathryn in All In A Day's Work and Blogging
I have my own business and when I’m not seeing clients at the clinic , I work from home, which I really enjoy.
I’ve been thinking over the last few days about what, for me, makes the perfect mid-week meal. It really started when I put together an easy vegetable casserole this week. It took ten minutes of preparation and then cooked away, by itself, in the oven for an hour.
Food and eating well are such an important part of my life. Given this, one of the benefits for me of working from home, is that I can do bits of cooking and food prep while I’m working . I don’t do intensive cooking, but it’s easy to have a pot of chickpeas or some soup simmering away on the stove, stuff that only needs the occasional stir.
I realise this means I often cook quite differently to a lot of people during the week. The reason my vegetable casserole was so perfect to me, was that it only took ten minutes of preparation and then cooked away in the oven, by itself. Plus it tasted fab.
That ten minutes of chopping and sauteeing vegetables cleared my head and gave me some perspective on the work I was doing. Dinner was then in the oven and I could go back to working, knowing that in 1 – 2 hours, or whenever I was ready, dinner would be as well.
I’ve decided then my criteria for a perfect mid-week meal are as follows:What about you, what’s your criteria for the perfect mid-week meal? Is preparation time the key, or are you more concerned about the number of ingredients? Is it a specific type of meal? Do you hate chopping vegetables and only want to open packets and tins?
I’m really keen to know what you, my lovely readers, look for in an evening meal? Part of this is general personal and professional interest. However, along with all the articles, I’m also keen that Limes&Lycopene be a useful recipe resource, full of the kind of recipes you are willing and able to cook on a daily basis.
While, to date, some of my recipes have fulfilled that criteria, I think I’ve been missing the mark a bit. So I’d like more feedback – what sort of meals do you want to see on Limes&Lycopene?
14 comments
25 May, 2007
Posted by kathryn in Gluten-free
Gluten-free Girl has a post about why going gluten free is not the end of the world. Look at all the beautiful food photos she’s included in her post – they’re all gluten free dishes.
Shauna also points to two online quizzes, to check if you might be coeliacs. Filling out an online quiz won’t give you a definitive diagnosis, but it can give you an idea of whether gluten is a problem or note.
The quizes are: the National Foundation for Coeliac Awareness’s: Do I have Coeliacs quiz? and Dr John LaPuma’s Should You Be Gluten Free? . Here in Australia the Coeliac Society has a list of symptoms and a factsheet on how to coeliacs is diagnosed .
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24 May, 2007
Posted by kathryn in All In A Day's Work, A Balanced Diet and Work life integration
As well as running Healthy Shopping Tours, over the next few months I’m joining together with psychotherapist and life coach Andrew Callinan and registered fitness instructor, Alexia Morris to run a programme called Life Plan.
I’m really excited about this wonderful six-week programme – which approaches health and life change from the three crucial angles: motivation, diet and fitness.
Participants will work with Andrew to overcome obstacles, set new goals and establish strategies for fulfillment in both personal and business life. While Alexia will inspire you to improve and maintain physical fitness with a personalised exercise programme that slots easily into your every day life (yes this can be done!).
I will, of course, be covering diet, and designing personalised health management plans that deliver energy and improved vitality.
Life Plan focusses on change and transformation: physically, mentally and spiritually. We aim to inspire you to identify your goals, set a strategy and take the necessary actions to bring happiness, fulfillment and vitality into your life.
The course is being run through the Source of Wellness in Gladesville.
2 comments
24 May, 2007
Posted by kathryn in A Balanced Diet and Work life integration
Dietriffic has posted some good advice on how to increase your physical activity during the day. Many people say they don’t have the time to exercise, but being active isn’t always about setting aside tens of hours per week to go to the gym. Most of us can structure more exercise into our daily lives, simply by doing more incidental activity.
This can range from getting yourself a bike and cycling up to the paper shop on the weekend, through to parking at the furthest point away from the shops, rather than right up close. Walk up the escalators, rather than standing still, or even better, take the stairs. Meet friends for a walk, rather than coffee and cake, and plan outdoors activities with your family.
It might not seem like much, but these regular small amounts of activity are beneficial to your overall health – plus, you will feel better for doing it.
Check out Dietriffic’s post for more suggestions.
2 comments
23 May, 2007
Posted by kathryn in Antioxidants and A Balanced Diet
Some of you may have heard about the positive health benefits of drinking green and white tea. Indeed, there was a period when it seemed I couldn’t open a magazine without reading about the wonders of white tea in particular. While it’s true that green and white tea are both rich sources of antioxidants, you don’t have to give up your black tea, as it’s also full of antioxidants.
White, green and black tea all come come from the same plant Camellia sinenses , but vary in how they are processed. White tea is made from the young leaves and new bud growth, which is then steamed and dried. It’s called white tea because the leaves and buds are covered with tiny silver hairs, that make the plant look white.
Green, black and oolong tea all come from the more mature plant and only the leaves are used. Black and oolong teas are made from fermented green tea leaves.
All are a rich source of a group of antioxidants called polyphenols. White tea does have the most antioxidants, followed closely by green tea, oolong and then black tea.
More on the health benefits of tea here .
2 comments
23 May, 2007
Posted by kathryn in A Balanced Diet
New research from the UK suggests that tea may be a healthier drink than water. Not only is it full of antioxidants, but, contrary to popular opinion, it doesn’t dehydrate. According to Dr Claire Ruxton one of the study leaders:
Studies on caffeine have found very high doses dehydrate and everyone assumes that caffeine-containing beverages dehydrate. But even if you had a really, really strong cup of tea or coffee, which is quite hard to make, you would still have a net gain of fluid.
So tea not only replaces fluids, but it also provides antioxidants that can protect your health long-term:
They found clear evidence that drinking three to four cups of tea a day can cut the chances of having a heart attack.
Some studies suggested tea consumption protected against cancer, although this effect was less clear-cut.
Other health benefits seen included protection against tooth plaque and potentially tooth decay, plus bone strengthening.
Just try not to add too much sugar and . . . still avoid the commercial iced tea products (which are laden with sugar). While tea might be good for you, the extra kilojoules from sugar are not. However, if you keep the sweetener to a minimum, there’s no reason why you can’t carry on enjoying your cups of tea.
8 comments
22 May, 2007
Posted by kathryn in Health News and A Balanced Diet
An article in last week’s Herald and UK Independent reported on research by the Harvard School of Public Health, showing a link between milk intake and acne. This study, undertaken by Walter Willet and his team, used information from the large-scale Nurses Health Study II, which examined the diet and lifestyle of about 47,000 women. A link was found between women who had acne and those who drank a lot of milk.
The Harvard team has theorised that hormones and other bioactive substances in milk, promote the formation of spots and acne.
Milk is produced by cows for their calves to drink. In dairy farming, to ensure maximum milk yields, cows are kept pregnant almost constantly. They are artificially inseminated and when they give birth the calves are taken away and the cows re-inseminated. This ensures the cow is able to produce milk all the time.
It also means the cow is both pregnant and being milked at the same time. So the cow is simultaneously producing the hormones that help her calf grow, while also producing the hormones required to keep her pregnancy going.
These hormones include a type of testosterone called dihydrotestosterone (DHT), as well as other growth promoting hormones. Both men and women make DHT, although men produce a lot more than women. It’s this DHT which has been suggested as the acne promoting culprit in many individuals. In your skin DHT causes the sebaceous glands to produce too many cells, which stick together and block up the pore, causing a spot to develop.
Milk has been linked to acne for quite some time now. It’s common in Western countries and uncommon in countries where dairy is not a normal part of the diet. Acne prevalence increases in populations that move to Western countries and take up Western diets. To date however, there’s been little scientific evidence to support the link.
From my clinical experience I have found it true that removing or reducing milk in the diet works for many people, but not everyone . For some, acne is caused by a number of different factors, which may include foods other than dairy, skin care products, female menstrual hormone changes, stress, or even digestive health.
Acne can be painful, and also quite socially devastating, especially if it lingers into adulthood. If you do suffer from acne and are a big milk and cheese eater, it may be worthwhile trying a period without these foods, to see if your spots improve.
I would recommend doing this under the care of a health professional. Dairy for most of us is our primary source of calcium. If you’re not eating dairy, then you’re at risk of being deficient in this important mineral and this needs to be addressed in your diet.
Photo by Mayu P under the terms of a creative commons license.
3 comments
21 May, 2007
Posted by kathryn in Blogging
Limes&Lycopene is experiencing a few technical problems at the moment – some of you may have had difficulties getting to the site in the last few days?
If so, I’m really sorry and we’re working on it. Hopefully normal non-bug-filled service will resume very soon.
If you have any questions or comments, you can always send them by email to me@kathrynelliott.com.au
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19 May, 2007
Posted by kathryn in Blogging, A Balanced Diet, Vegetables, Work life integration and Food & Health Myths
And this week in Sydney (and most of NSW), we’ve had beautiful, beautiful rain .
Photo by Erik K Veland under the terms of a creative commons license .
2 comments
19 May, 2007
Posted by kathryn in Health News and Kid's nutrition
US Food Policy reports on the anti-childhood obesity programme in Somerville, MA. Called Shape Up Somerville, it’s an example of what happens when a whole community joins together to tackle this problem.
A wide range of measures have been set in motion, offering a school, parent and community programme that comes at the issue from several angles:
As the Wall Street Journal reports:
The Somerville program, designed primarily by Dr.Economos and fellow researchers at the Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition, offers a surprising blueprint. It didn’t force schoolchildren to go on diets. Instead, the goal was to change their environment with small and inexpensive steps. Dr.Economos, a specialist in pediatric nutrition and the mother of two school-age children, has long believed that the battle against obesity can’t be fought at the dinner table alone but requires social and political changes.
I love the way this programme takes on the problem of childhood obesity in such an innovative and well-rounded way. All have a role to play and all have a say in how the programme is run. The opinions and buy-in of parents and the local community are valued, while the kids also have a say. For example, each month a vegetable is featured in the canteen, with taste tests available at lunch-time. The kids then get to vote on whether that vegetable is used in the monthly school menu.
While individual parents play a vital role in maintaining the health of their child, it’s unfortunate that the local environment can work against those measures.
If your child’s school canteen is full of junk, local city planning makes walking impossible and there’s little nutrition education at school, then parents have their work cut out for them and you’re battling to make physical activity and healthy eating part of the normal daily routine.
As US Food Policy notes:
It can seem impossible for an ordinary parent to improve his or her family’s nutrition and physical activity, when every aspect of the outside environment undermines the effort. The Shape Up Somerville program . . offers an appealing vision of a whole community working together to change that environment.
3 comments
17 May, 2007
Posted by kathryn in Health News
This week is Autism Awareness Week. There’s lots going on and Neil over on At My Table is writing a series of blog posts about autism.
1 comment
16 May, 2007
Posted by kathryn in Kid's nutrition
The calls for restrictions on junk foods advertising to kids are gaining momentum .
2 comments
16 May, 2007
Posted by kathryn in Work life integration
I loved this post over at Freaked-Out Fathers about the importance of defragging – time away from the bustle of life to clear your head. His advice is specifically for dads, but chill-out time is something we all need. No matter how much you love your job, your family, your partner, we all need “time away from the noise”. And if you’re not getting this time, then it will effect you and your relationships.
I suspect this is why many men make the detour to the pub or bar on the way home, or actually stay back in the office when everyone else has left, just to have some peace a
