NUTRITION NUGGETS!

My name is Fiona Kirk. I am a Nutritional Therapist and I’ve been asked to write a regular column for ‘Relentlessly Positive’.  The aim?  To pass on ‘nutritional nuggets’ to help you make the best possible choices when buying, cooking and eating food in an effort to attain (or, better still maintain) good health. 

But, who am I?  Why should you pay the tiniest bit of attention to any advice or recommendations I have to offer?  You’ve probably heard it all before – its coming at you from all sides isn’t it?  Books, magazine and newspaper articles, TV and radio programmes and thousands of web pages are all devoted to ‘leading you down the path to perfect health’.

So, are you ‘up to speed’ and in control of your diet or are you just totally confused?  This is where I come in.  I love to rant, particularly about nutrition and whilst I appreciate that there are many of you out there who can take all that information on board, there are just as many (possibly more) who are just plain bewildered.  What you should eat?  How much you should eat?  How often you should eat?  What combinations of foods constitute a ‘balanced diet’?  If it weren’t for the fact that I have a bit of training under my belt, I’d be right there with you!

So let’s start by talking sugar!

NOT ALL SUGARS ARE BAD

Just as all fats are not “bad” fats (more on fats next month), so all sugars are not “bad” sugars.  We need to eatCarbohydrates to give us energy.  And what are Carbohydrates?  Sugars!  Plants trap energy from sunshine and store it and when we eat these plant foods we release that energy in the form of sugars.  So, by avoiding all sugars, we deprive ourselves of that most efficient and essential source of energy.  Not wise.  The more complex the combination of sugars in the plant, the slower they are released and the longer the energy lasts (whole grains, beans, peas, lentils, fruits and vegetables).  As soon as these natural foods are refined and processed the combination of sugars becomes much simpler and are released in the body much more quickly.  Result, less energy is produced and you have to top up more often (white bread, white rice and pasta, dried fruit, cooked root vegetables, milk). 

‘Nutritional Nugget’ – eat the ‘complex’ guys 80% of the time and the simple ‘not so complex’ guys 20% of the time.

So what should you try to avoid?  The stuff in the sugar bowl in all its guises and the thousands of products that contain ‘added sugars’.  Look for the ones that end in –ose on the label.  These include sweets, biscuits, pastries, crisps, fizzy drinks and mixers, fast foods, ready meals, loads of breakfast cereals and bars, sauces, jams and jellies, desserts, some breads, some yoghurts.  Sadly it’s a very long list!

And, by the way ‘artificial sweeteners’ are just that – ARTIFICIAL!! Avoid them where possible and if you need a bit of added sweetness, use maple syrup or honey (or xylitol which is a naturally-occurring sugar from the bark of beech trees, really does taste like sugar and can be used in hot drinks, sprinkled over food and for baking).

So, to recap:- it’s MORE whole grains, beans, peas, lentils, fruits and vegetables and it’s LESS white bread, white rice and pasta, dried fruit, cooked root vegetables and milk.

But how do you make that happen?  What use is a list of foods without some suggestions on how to make it happen? Busy people have limited time to make food choices, so I intend to keep it simple, quick and effective.

TRY THIS

Over the next couple of weeks eat five or six small meals/snacks a day rather than two or three big meals and include at least three of the following suggestions every day:-
  

1. eat raw carrots, cucumber, baby tomatoes, sliced peppers or a piece of fruit whenever you are hungry
2. drink fruit juices, vegetable juices and smoothies instead of fizzy drinks
3. buy bags of ready chopped veg and small potatoes, coat quickly with olive oil and sling in the oven to roast for 30 mins
4. eat brown rice instead of white whenever you can (packets, microwaveable bags or tinned), add a pile of fresh or frozen vegetables and top with strips of chicken and a glug of olive oil
5. buy packs of raw baby vegetables and dip them in hummus, tzatziki, natural yoghurt or salsa
6. raid the ‘deli’ counter’ - 3 bean salad, lentil salad, beetroot or carrot salad are delicious, filling and a great snack (particularly at that time of the day where you may prefer to reach for the crisps or biscuits!)
7. beans on toast can’t be beaten!  Preferably those with no added sugar on wholegrain toast – but sometimes it just has to be Heinz!!
8. a sliced apple with a handful of mixed nuts and seeds and a chunk of hard cheese is a great start to the day if you are not ‘big on breakfast’
9. experiment with soups – add a couple of handfuls of lentils or haricot beans to a fresh tomato and basil soup(to make it more substantial
10. add roasted veg to a bowl of couscous and top with some toasted pine nuts
11. eat mixed nuts and raisins or mixed nuts instead of the salty variety
12. dates filled with pecans or almonds are good for a sweet tooth
13. have porridge at any time of the day or night – it really is the ‘food of the gods!’ plus it’s cheap, filling and delicious with sliced apple, a meaningful sprinkling of ground cinnamon and a swirl of honey
14. fill baked potatoes or sweet potatoes with tuna + sweet corn, baked beans or tinned mixed beans, hummus or guacamole

Give it a try, let me know how you get on.  Then, if you are keen to expand your choices and learn a bit more about how to incorporate ‘good choice’ foods into your diet, log on to my website www.fionakirk.com and cherry-pick your way through more of my nutritional rantings!