Vegan Home Delivered Healthy Meals – Brisbane Area

We’re proud to offer a Vegan option in our home delivered healthy meals, for those who wish to avoid meat, fish, dairy etc.  It’s called the “Vegan Harvest”!

Vegan Harvest Meal Plan | www.healthymealstoyourdoor.com.au/beta

Vegan Meal Plan: Our vegan meal plan is meat free, dairy free, fish free, poultry free, egg free, which makes it perfect for those busy people who are following a vegan, or close-to-vegan lifestyle!   In some cases Vegans may also not want to consume honey.  As we don;t use sugar in our meals, honey is sometimes used as a sweetener, so if you don’t want to have honey in your meals, simply choose “Special Dietary Needs” in the options drop down on the Order page, and specify your requirements in the notes field provided!

We look forward to meeting your vegan diet requirements, with the convenience of healthy home delivered meals!

Any questions, please contact us here.

Healthy Eating Tips for Parents – The Antidote to “Destroying Your Kids Lives”

“An antidote to the eating dilemma blog post: How to destroy your kids lives…”

Someone tagged me on facebook to an article entitled “How to Destroy Your Kids Lives”. I usually cringe momentarily wondering what I have been connected to and wondering if I am going to agree or disagree profoundly or be like – “mmeh”, usually the former.

The particular article was written by a mother, apparent personal trainer with some nutrition quals.  She describes a move Home delivered healthy meals for kids in Brisbanefrom an extreme scare mongering position on the terrors of junk food to a corrected position of a more moderate response to eating well most of the time and letting go some of the time. The article ends with a message that I might support, but the article is so full of guilt and accusation that it ignites such an emotional response by readers that it gets people’s back up and I fear the only useful message is lost.

The reality is this type of mother is the minority, the “obsessive controlling neurotic mother who is so terrified of unhealthy food she verges on disordered eating because food becomes such an obsession it affects her psychological well being” is not the mother I usually have to worry about or come face to face with. Although absolutely they can and usually do affect their poor children’s eating habits and lives.

Sadly the majority of parents I meet are of the view that it doesn’t matter or doesn’t hurt kids to consume unmonitored amounts of sweets or treats, because they are of the view “they are just kids and they are active so they can burn off the sugar” or because “it’s cruel to deprive them of sweets” or parents don’t have sufficient knowledge or grounding to know how to feed their kids well or tell the difference between what is nourishing and healthy and what is not, or because a healthy eating message feels boring or like too hard work. And often parents are being misled or fed confusing and conflicting messages about what is healthy.

The truth is the norm is no longer just eating junk or treat food at a party anymore, unhealthy snack food items now make up a huge one third of Australian children’s daily energy intake – that’s one-third that could be taken up by whole grains, whole foods, fruit or vegetables. And it doesn’t stop at snack food, fewer mums cook or prepare their families meals from scratch these days. We know that the increase in production and attractiveness of processed snack items and general groceries is a major contributor to this, but is there anything else that can influence a child’s eating patterns just as much, if not more?

Here’s my take on it and some research to give you a bit of a grounded position moving forward.

Strategy 1: Be a good role model:

how_to_teach_children_to_eat_healthy_1A recent study by Boots et al. (2015) found that parents can effectively shape their child’s eating behaviour and patterns by using modelling techniques. This means ensuring that parents model good and appropriate eating behaviours in front of their children. It is not just your words they respond to, they are watching you and learning from you.

Like it or not children will usually model their eating habits and attitudes to food off their parents first, then their peers and their environment.

Sit down together as a family to eat one meal a day at a set table.

Strategy 2: Availability Bias:

Children are more likely to eat what is easily available and visible. Make sure you are strategic about what you make readily available in terms of food in the home. Make sure that there is an adequate amount of healthy food and make junk and processed food scarce or store it out of sight. You are a nutrition gatekeeper, you can directly influence how nourished your child is by what you make available for them to choose from at home.

Parents have the greatest control over the food environment their children are exposed to.

Parents are nutritional gatekeepers, they have huge influence on how well nourished their children are.

Repeated exposure works, children will develop preferences for familiar food.

Taste is a driver for food preferences, and cleverly engineered junk food will often trump natural tasting food, so crowd out junk food or make it infrequently available.

Manage expectations that junk food is everyday food or available on tap.

Strategy 3: Restriction and control can backfire!

An interesting finding of the above study was that higher restrictive feeding practices were associated with poorer levels of child eating outcomes. In particular, when parents enforced clear standards of behaviour and structure and had low responsiveness, this tended to predict restrictive feeding. Restrictive feeding practices include restricting a child’s access to certain foods (usually unhealthy foods) in an attempt to make the child eat healthier. Sometimes it is also used if a child is acting with bad behaviour in an attempt to convince or bribe the child to stop the behaviour. A different study done by Durao et al. (2015) also produced findings in line with this. Maternal restriction was associated with an increased consumption of snacks and excessive unhealthy food intake. Interestingly, parental firmness and pressure to eat was associated with fruit, vegetable and dairy consumption above the recommendations.

Some pointers to unpack the above: what is useful you to take out of this?

Have reasonable boundaries, and encourage healthy eating practices.

– Teach them: we have to eat our healthy foods to nourish our bodies, so you can grow and play and learn and be strong.

– Don’t insist they finish everything on their plate.

– Do insist they choose and eat some sort of vegetables and fruit daily

– Never use food to reward or punish behaviour.

– Don’t make treats a habit or routine (e.g. don’ t condition them to expect something sweet every day after dinner.)

– Use words and explanations like sometimes foods, and everyday foods or healthy and not so healthy. They need to learn the difference.

– Allow them to have preferences, and work within those preferences to nourish them and feed them healthy choices everyday. They are more likely to choose healthy foods if they enjoy them.

– Feed them their favourite healthy foods they love to eat.

– If they ask for a treat, give them a small or reasonable serve and explain that if they want anything else to eat they will have to choose something healthy.

– It’s ok to say no sometimes, especially to unhealthy foods with little ones. You don’t want them filling up on unhealthy foods and then being malnourished because they don’t eat enough healthy foods.

Strategy 4: A new take on “emotional eating”

A recent study found that children chose healthier foods when the foods are emo-labelled (an image based labelling strategy using emoticons, happy face = healthy, sad face = unhealthy) (Privitera et al., 2015). Even if the child has food preferences, food choices seemed to be different when emo-labels were present. To bring this into the context of parenting, instead of restricting certain foods or telling your child that some foods are ‘bad’ for them, teach children to eat foods that will make them happy instead of sad. Children will be more likely to relate to these two basic emotions and relay them back to food choices

In summary, if you are parent and are looking for some tips and strategies to help your child choose healthier foods, studies show that positive parental modelling; parental firmness and ensuring that healthy food is readily available in the house are effective. In addition, the way you talk to your child about food may also be beneficial.

Finally get creative, you may be able to subtly influence your child to willingly choose healthy food, by sticking a smiley face on it. You could purchase happy face stickers and place them on your child’s plentiful healthy food options in their lunchbox to encourage them to eat the healthy foods before the other items (and try and limit the unhealthy options too). For example apples, a ziplock bag of fresh veggies with humus dip, yoghurt, a ziplock bag with chicken pieces in it, might all get happy stickers and then you might add a small treat which you would leave sticker-less or with a sad face on it. See what happens…

Now you have some more tips and knowledge to integrate into your family life. Happy eating!

Also see other articles I have written on healthy habits and tips for families.

References:

Boots, S., Tiggemann, M., Corsini, N., & Mattiske, J. (2015). Managing young children’s snack food intake. The role of parenting style and feeding strategies. Appetite, 92: 94-101.

Durao, C., Andreozzi, V., Oliveira, A., Moreira, P., Guerra, A., Barros, H., & Lopes, C. (2015). Maternal child-feeding practices and dietary inadequacy of 4-year-old children. Appetite, 92:15-23.

Healthy Diet Research. Is Fat or Protein Better For Appetite Control and Feeling Fuller Longer?

Fat vs Protein: Which One is Better for Appetite Control and Satiety?

high fat or high protein which is better for appetite control | www.healthymealstoyourdoor.com.au/beta

The foods that we choose to eat all have an effect on our health in some way. Our appetites vary from person to person and are influenced by sensations of hunger, our ‘learned’ patterns of eating and eating behaviour, our attitudes toward food and our particular food preferences. The types and levels of certain macronutrients that we consume also play an important role in appetite control.

Studies investigating the relationship between high-fat diets and appetite control have found mixed results. A study conducted in 2000 found that polyunsaturated fats (e.g. from fish) promoted stronger satiety compared to monounsaturated or saturated fats. It did this by decreasing a certain hunger hormone called MCH and thus seemed to delay the return of hunger pangs [1]. In line with these findings, another study uncovered that unsaturated fats (e.g. from nuts and avocado) can effectively curb feelings of hunger and increase fullness through the stimulation of OEA (a fat messenger) [2].

Note: that saturated fats have had a reputation for being ‘bad’ fats (because of a suspected relationship between over-consumption and heart disease).  Saturated fats that seem to be on the “cautionary list” are those found mainly in animal meats and products (butter, cream, cheese). Saturated fats typically are solid at room temperature and the term saturated comes from their composition.  Coconut oil, a saturated plant oil, although also deemed a saturated fat is the one consistent exception where a body of evidence links it’s consumption to health benefits.)

However, another study disputed this by stating that fat has a weaker effect on appetite control than other macro-nutrients like protein and carbohydrates [3]. What we do know is, the most important thing about fat is the type of fat that is being ingested. Unmodified plant fats tend to be healthiest. Unsaturated fats are more beneficial for health and are more effective at promoting satiety.

Now let’s consider protein. There is an abundance of research and evidence out there that shine a light on protein for the management of appetite and feelings of fullness. One such study is particularly interesting – when protein intake was increased from 15% to 30% over a period of 12 weeks, satiety levels increased significantly. In addition, body weight decreased by about 4.9kg, body fat by 3.7kg and random energy intake (snacking) was lowered by about 450 calories per day [4]. These results look pretty good for the amount of work that is needed. Another study found that eating a high-protein snack in the afternoon such as a yogurt will improve appetite control and decrease the amount of calories eaten for dinner (compared to when snacking on crackers or chocolate) [5].

We have two main hunger hormones working in our body – Leptin and Ghrelin. Leptin decreases appetite while ghrelin will increase it. Research has also revealed that a high-protein diet can suppress the ghrelin hormone more effectively than a high-fat diet, meaning lowered hunger levels!

To conclude, chances are that you can use protein in your diet to help with satiety.  You will notice that if you have had too little protein and you increase it you will start to see some changes in how effectively you can manage your appetite and a difference in how full you feel after each meal. If you prefer to eat a higher amount of fat than protein, make sure it’s coming predominantly unsaturated sources like avocados, nuts, seeds, oils and fish or predominantly from plants.

 

References:

[1] Lawton, L., Delargy, J., Brockman, J., Smith, C., & Blundell, E. (2000). The degree of saturation of fatty acids influences post-ingestive satiety. BrJ Nutrition, 83: 473-482.

[2] University of California. (2008). How fatty foods curb hunger. Science Daily. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081007123647.htm

[3] Bludell, J., Lawton, C., Cotton, J., Macdiarmid, J. (1996). Control of human appetite: implications for the intake of dietary fat. Annual Review of Nutrition, 16: 285-319. Retrieved from http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev.nu.16.070196.001441?journalCode=nutr

[4] Weigle et. Al. (2005). A high-protein diet induces sustained reductions in appetite, ad libitum caloric intake, and body weight despite compensatory changes in diurnal plasma leptin and ghrelin concentrations. Am J Clin Nutrition, 82(1): 41-48. Retrieved from http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/82/1/41.full

[5] Ortinau, H., Hoertel, H., Douglas, S., & Leidy, H. (2014). Effects of high-protein vs. high- fat snacks on appetite control, satiety, and eating initiation in healthy women. Journal Nutrition. Retrieved from http://www.nutritionj.com/content/13/1/97

Bet you think you eat healthier than most! What if you are wrong?

do you eat healthier than most|www.healthymealstoyourdoor.com.au

Most people in today’s general population would answer yes if you asked them whether our population’s eating habits are on average, unhealthy. But would we be so quick to judge our own eating habits? According to a study published this year, it seems not. Sixty participants were sat down in front of a 72-food buffet and asked to plate one meal for themselves and one for their peer. Now, you would think that these two plates of food would be nearly identical, correct? Well according to the study, people actually chose foods that were higher in calories for their peers (1). The participant’s actions in this study indicate that people tend to assume that their peers would choose foods that are more unhealthy and higher in calories than they do, feeding the perception of “I eat healthier than you”. This perception of one’s self can be concerning, given that it goes against western population data indicating that most people eat a diet that is way too energy-dense, high in fat and low in whole fruits and vegetables.  It also means that if someone else is dishing up your food, they may be feeding you a more unhealthy diet than you might choose for yourself.  (Note, that the participants serving the food did not necessarily make healthy choices they just made more unhealthy choices for their peers, assuming their peers choices would have been worse than theirs.)

In a similar vein, a study conducted right here in Australia by the Cancer Council and Heart Foundation found that people think it is now ‘normal’ to skip breakfast, overeat and snack on treats frequently. Half of the study population believed that their diet was ‘healthy’ when in fact only 7% were eating the recommended amount of fruits and vegetables per day (2).

There is clearly a major disconnect between what one perceives to be a healthy diet and what is actually a healthy diet. Due to the strong connection between an unhealthy diet and illness/disease, it is concerning that our views and perceptions are not more accurate. It means that instead of actively seeking out help or trying to modify their behaviour, people are more likely to do nothing because they believe their diet is ‘healthy’, or at least “healthier than others” when in reality, it may not be.

How do you perceive your diet? Do you view it as unhealthy or healthy, and why do you see it that way?

References:

[1] Sproesser, G., Kohlbrenner, V., Schupp, H., & Renner, B. (2015). I eat healthier than you: differences in healthy and unhealthy food choices for oneself and for others. Nutrients, 7: 4638-4660.

[2] Cancer Council Australia. (2015). The Shape of Victoria Study. Retrieved from www.cancervic.org.au

 

Feeding Children – The balance of responsibility

feedingchildrenI often am approached by parents wanting information on best feeding practices for their children.  Sometimes parents complain they battle with “fussy eaters”, sometimes it is that their “toddler is too busy to eat”, sometimes it is that their children are constantly nagging for junk food, or “won’t eat anything healthy”.

On the one hand I encourage parents to keep the peace in the home and resist the urge to try to control their children, especially with regards to eating.  Food wars, almost always will cause problem eaters down the track.  At the same time, parents are the nutritional gatekeepers, and so I do encourage them to take advantage of their ability to influence their children’s eating habits.  They can do this in several ways:

  1. They can make sure there is delicious healthy food available.
  2. They can be a good role model, choose, prepare and eat healthy food in satisfying ways.
  3. They can watch their dialogue around food, eating, and body image.
  4. They can invite their children to take part in meal decisions or meal preparation.
  5. They can crowd out or minimize the availability of junk food in the house.
  6. They can set norms, boundaries and expectations around eating in the home.
  7. They can create an environment for best eating practice.

At every stage of childhood, parents have responsibilities with feeding while children have responsibilities with eating.  As the child gets older, their responsibilities increase. So be aware that you will have different degrees of influence and responsibility at different ages.  That is why being a role model, and a facilitator and leader is a better strategy than trying to control everything, or nothing.

Here’s what I mean:  In the case of the infant: the parent is responsible for what the infant eats and how they eat it.  A baby has no ability to control that, they can cry, they can refuse to eat, but the parent will decide whether the baby is offered breast or bottle, if bottle, which formula, the parent will decide when to wean, and the parent will decide what to wean with.  (Once the preferred infant food is decided by the parent, the infant is only in charge of how much they consume.

As a child starts eating more solid foods they become accountable for not only how much they eat but also whether they eat.  Usually the older they get, the more they assert their will and their preferences, but they still can’t really “help themselves” or control “what their choices are”.  Children choose how much they eat and whether they eat.

If parents successfully take on responsibility for their part of the feeding (e.g. choosing food, preparing food, being good role models around food and mealtime), children will learn how to eat, how to determine satiety and how to eat a variety of different foods, all of which lead to competent eating (1). But in order to achieve this, parents must give their child some responsibility of their own. This is crucial in teaching children good eating habits.

Here is one example highlighting why it is important they are given some of the responsibility.  I have watched many well intentioned parents insist their children don’t leave the table until they finish everything on their plate (my mother included).  While the parent has the best interests of the child at heart (or perhaps they don’t like to waste food), unfortunately this rule overrides the child’s natural abilities to judge “satiety” and learn when they have had enough and practice the act of “stopping eating”.

Under three, children will stop eating based on their own internal cues rather than being influenced by serving size or how much food is on their plate; after five however, a child will typically be much more influenced by serving size, and eat more or less dependent on external rather than internal cues.  So I would encourage you to give your child the opportunity to practice this skill, if they have had enough, let them stop.

In the same breath, I am a mum, and I “get” that children might “play up”, get distracted, have preferences and so it is necessary to consider some practical guidelines around eating, and certainly important to manage expectations and boundaries.

Here are some ideas:

Encourage them to sit down and eat their food at the table (not on the run or in front of the TV), research shows this facilitates mindful eating, and furthermore research shows lower incidence in teenage depression of families who share at least one meal a day at the dinner table.

You might set an expectation that they eat vegetables every day, but you encourage them to choose any two types of vegetables from the options available for their plate each night (they can choose from what is available e.g. “Which two would you like, you can have pumpkin, raw carrot sticks, cucumber, avocado, broccoli or peas?)  By doing this you work within their preferences but you set the expectation and habit of including vegetables and healthy food as part of the meal.

You might make an effort to both include new things for them to try, and include old familiar favorites they like.

Remember parents are the nutritional gate keepers, you do most of the food shopping and preparation, therefore you need to make sure there are delicious and nutritious options available for them to choose from.  (If you need some support with healthy meal preparation and catering remember Healthy Meals To Your Door does healthy family dinners!)

As we know, educating children on good eating behaviours and allowing them to develop their own positive attitudes toward food is greatly beneficial for when the child steps into adulthood. Their habits and values will carry with them throughout their life.

For more information or support in understanding or healing your relationship with food visit www.sizefantastic.com.au

  1. http://ellynsatterinstitute.org/dor/divisionofresponsibilityinfeeding.php

Why you should take nutrition personally!

Why should you take nutrition advice personally?  And what do I mean by that?

why you should take nutrition personallyAs a nutritionist I’ve been quizzed about the strengths and weaknesses of different diet trends and fads.  Usually my clients want a simple answer in response to a question like “Is veganism healthy” or “What do you think of Paleo”?

The truth is that different people have different dietary needs, tolerances and preferences, and nutrition is highly personal.

It’s interesting, we expect people to be different to each other in a number of ways: their hair colour, their build, their talents, their favourite sport, their style of dress, their favourite colour, their favourite movie, their choice of music, their career choices, their dream partner and their dream home among other things. We expect that some people will have common interests and may even be very similar in some ways, though we understand that won’t mean they are exactly alike. We even anticipate that identical twins will have some differences to each other.

We know people have different preferences to foods. Some people love spaghetti bolognaise, other people love roast dinner, some people love spicy foods, some love seafood, some like marmite and it hurts me to say it, but some people even claim to love McDonalds.

In the same way that people have different preferences, people also have different needs. And while it would be really convenient and even tempting to advocate for the idea of a perfect diet that would perfectly meet everyone’s needs… it is highly improbable.

For example research tells us that the healthiest diet on the planet is a whole food plant based diet, so arguably a well constructed vegan or vegetarian whole food diet would be the closest you can come to achieving that.  However, some people have a DAO enzyme deficiency, (like me) which means levels of histamines (an amino acid but also secreted by the body in response to allergens) can rise too high.  If someone has a histamine intolerance eating a diet high in nuts, seeds, beans and certain vegetables can over elevate their histamine levels. Despite these all being “healthy foods”, this “perfect diet” would be imperfect for some people, and if they excluded these plant proteins they may become deficient, despite the fact the diet is built on “super foods”.  Furthermore, some vegans become low in iron and vitamin B12, even without enzyme deficiencies so they too need to monitor their nutrition status.

So does that mean everyone can eat meat (or should)?  Well back to the histamine intolerance example, in fact too much chicken or processed meat, or fish can also raise levels too high, so it is not just a vegan diet that is problematic, they actually NEED to be picky with what they eat.

Let’s consider another diet, one currently trending in popularity, the Paleo diet.  This diet recommends the restriction of grains, pulses, beans, corn, dairy and sugar, and promotes animal protein and vegetables, fruit, animal fats and coconut oil as primary food sources.  There are lots of great benefits reported by this way of eating, however the approach doesn’t restrict or exclude processed meat (e.g bacon), which we know are linked to colon cancer.

Typically people eating this way consume an excess of protein rich foods on this diet, which for some is detrimental for their kidneys and digestive system and can be problematic for people who suffer from inflammatory conditions.  And for someone suffering with Hemochromatosis (a genetic disorder where your body stores too much iron) this diet would be far too high in iron, making you vulnerable to iron toxicity.

Additionally, if you eat too much meat, and fats and not enough starchy carbohydrates, you can affect your digestion, your cholesterol levels, your energy levels and your brain function.

Some may argue the Paleo diet can be done well, but often quite frankly, it isn’t. So again, this apparently “great and healthy diet” is not healthy for EVERYONE, and like any diet, it needs to be considered with the context of the individual in mind.

So, in answer to questions about what the perfect diet is, I usually respond: “Eat real food, and for the rest, it really depends on you (your needs and preferences), and what you are trying to achieve.”

Personalised nutrition is fundamental for health.  You need to be eating what is healthiest for your body, and that’s subtly different for everybody.  In fact, I encourage people to take their nutrition, personally.

YES there are guiding principles for the “best diet” and they are eat real and whole foods as much as possible.  For the rest, get yourself tested, see a good nutritionist and find out the best diet for you PERSONALLY.

women eating chocolate

What Is It About Chocolate?!

With Easter coming up, it seemed a good time to ask this question:

Why does chocolate make us feel SOOO good and seem to have so much power over us? 

If you are the type of person who thinks about chocolate all the time and can’t live without it, and if you just can’t even think about saying no or resisting it, then you are probably addicted to it!

You can be both physiologically and psychologically or emotionally addicted to a substance or behaviour and that is what makes it harder to control or give up.

What is it in chocolate that makes it so “addictive”?

The taste, the texture and the way it makes you feel!

The main ingredients in chocolate are: cocoa, milk and sugar.

If we break each of these down, we can start to understand the effect each of these has on the body. 

Cocoa:

o  Contains compounds that act as stimulants for the central nervous system, so we feel more alert (for example caffeine and theobromine)

o  Contains phenylalanine which can increase levels of endorphins in the brain, so we feel good

o  It also contains important minerals like iron which is needed for blood formation and magnesium which the body needs for muscle movement (contraction and relaxation) and also for the nervous system, so it can help us feel a little relaxed.

o  The heavenly texture can be attributed to the fat.  This pleasurable “mouth feel” associated with fat is probably an evolutionary consequence of the high energy fat could provide in times of famine.

o  Also contains antioxidants (protective in the body)

Milk:

o  Contains tryptophan which is converted to serotonin (one of our “happy hormones”) in the brain

o  Interestingly a sensitivity to milk can give rise to cravings for milk.  (You may not be lactose intolerant but you could still be sensitive to milk!  Some partially-digested proteins for example casein in milk or gluten in wheat will form opium like peptides (chains of amino acids) which can bind to special receptors in the brain and are capable of producing a drug-like effect, leaving us wanting more of the very thing that is causing us harm!) (I will cover more on the topic of allergies in future newsletters). 

Sugar:

o  (Carbohydrate) aids the transport and absorption of tryptophan into the brain

o  Will provide an increase in blood sugar, which will periodically alleviate the symptoms of low blood sugar (low energy and low mood).

Therefore you can see there is a host of explanations for why chocolate has such an effect on us and it would be so hard to give up. 

The downside of chocolate:

o  Processed, mainstream chocolate is high in sugar and contains all sorts of other additives to keep it “fresh”.  Anything that causes a rapid increase in blood sugar will inevitably result in a rapid drop in blood sugar, which will affect your energy and your mood short term but has more serious long-term consequences (e.g. diabetes).

o  Caffeine is a stimulant so acts increases stress in the body.

o  There are better ways to achieve higher levels of these important nutrients:  e.g. iron (meat, chicken thighs).  Milk hinders iron absorption.  Tryptophan is found in protein rich food like chicken, pumpkin seeds, turkey, tuna, rolled oats is a particularly good option, because of the combined carbohydrate content.

o  Some people are sensitive to certain foods, continuing to eat these foods can have undesirable consequences for the body, for example it causes inflammation which can appear with the following symptoms:  bloating, mucous production, diarrhea, cramping, leaky gut. 

The million-dollar question: So is chocolate bad for me?   

0  It’s a treat!  It is definitely acceptable and possibly even beneficial to enjoy good quality chocolate in moderation.  “Good” options are 1-2 pieces 75-90% Cocoa, and preferably Organic Chocolate.  If you can’t stand dark chocolate, choose a good quality milk chocolate with nuts in it, (hazelnuts or almonds). 

0  Always make sure you are enjoying it while you eat and never eat it mindlessly (while you are doing something else!), it just isn’t worth it!

It’s Easter, so there’ll be a lot of chocolate around.  Try to eat dark chocolate where possible and not too much!  

Otherwise, enjoy your Easter!

 

What is a Healthy Diet for Seniors and How Does Getting a Pre-cooked Meal Help?

As we get older our nutritional requirements change. It is important that we are feeding our bodies a diet that supports all of the changing requirements and needs that it has as we age.

Here are some of the requirements for seniors:

1.     Calcium rich foods

Menopause puts women at an increased need for calcium, due to the loss of bone density they experience because of lower oestrogen levels. Ensure you are eating enough calcium rich foods (e.g. dairy products, almonds, green leafy vegetables, tofu, and fish with bones) and engaging in weight bearing exercises. Women and men over 70 years old need 1300mg of calcium per day (National Health and Medical Research Council, 2014).

2.     Good fats

Care must be taken to avoid saturated and trans fats, and instead include good fats in your diet (polyunsaturated and monounsaturated). Avocado, unsalted nuts and seeds are all examples of good fats. In addition, oily fish such as salmon and tuna provide essential omega-3 oils which are known to reduce the risk of heart disease and depression.

3.     LESS salt is better

A diet high in salt can increase the risk of heart disease and high blood pressure. Adding salt to foods can be very dangerous! Herbs and spices can provide enough flavour to your meals without having to add a lot of salt. Around 1 tsp of salt is more than enough for the day, which is not a lot when you think about it!

4.     Protein

Protein is especially important for older adults to ensure a healthy immune system, skin and tissue repair and skeletal strength. Lean meats, lentils, beans, tofu and low-fat dairy products are great sources of protein for seniors. The recommended intake of protein for women over 70 years old is 57g/day, with men needing a little more. Our delicious chicken and lean beef meals are examples of some of our protein-rich meals.

5.     Fibre

Fibre in the diet has many proven benefits, including a reduced risk of colorectal cancer, heart disease and improvements in the management of diabetes and high cholesterol. Wholegrains, whole fruits, vegetables and beans are all amazing sources of fibre. Aim to get around 21g of fibre if you’re a woman over 50 and 30g if you’re a man over 50.

As easy as it may sound to eat a healthy balanced diet that includes all these things, it is actually very hard for seniors to meet their nutritional needs. Many seniors may be living alone and find it hard to cook for themselves, some may have chewing or swallowing problems, and others may experience physical problems that make it hard to them to cook.

Having even just one pre-prepared, nutritious meal every day can benefit your health greatly and provide you with essential nutrients and vitamins that you might not be getting by cooking yourself!

We have a number of different plans available, making it easy for you to order the right amount of meals that suits your lifestyle.  Visit http://www.healthymealstoyourdoor.com.au/Gold/ to see our current offer, and view the menu and prices.

Happy eating!

References:

National Health and Medical Research Council. (2014). Nutrient reference values for Australia and New Zealand including recommended dietary intakes. Available from: https://www.nrv.gov.au/