Why being flexible in the holiday season matters

Nourish Me Simply

With only 10 days to go until Christmas (and counting), the festive season can be challenging when it comes to making healthy food choices. Every year at this time, recipes and tips for eating nutritiously over Christmas pop up all over the web. While I admire the efforts of many of these authors, often I can’t help but think that:

a) Many of these recipes really don’t look particularly appetising. Enjoyment of food and feasting is important to all cultures, and we all need a “free pass” every now and again.

b) What you eat on one day of the year (1/365th of what you eat overall) doesn’t really make any difference to your overall nutrition. It’s what you eat on the remaining 364 days that counts.

Image courtesy of nuchylee at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Orthorexia is a word that has entered popular vernacular in the past few years. The ‘condition’ is about as legit as other nebulous…

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Legumes: The overlooked food group

Nourish Me Simply

I love legumes. Sometimes referred to as “dried beans”, legumes includes everything from green peas to chickpeas, lentils to kidney beans and soy, and even peanuts are technically a legume! The thing I like about them the most is how filling they are. Give me a big serve of kidney bean pasta sauce, and I’ll be satisfied for several hours.

The other great thing about legumes is that not only are they  nutrition powerhouses, they’re also generally incredibly cheap.

A snapshot of some of the different kinds of legumes out there.
Clockwise: Chickpeas, red lentils and green lentils.

Here’s a snapshot of some of the nutritional benefits of legumes:

• Protein
• Fibre
• Iron, zinc, and B-group vitamins (including folate)
• (Most of them are) Low GI. In other words, they give you long-lasting energy. This is important for people with diabetes, as it helps to stabilise your blood sugar levels. There’s also evidence to indicate…

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Nosh Magazine: Bringing some of Australia’s leading Dietitians to your computer

Ever a voice of reason and balance, Sonia on nutrition.

Nourish Me Simply

I often find my Facebook newsfeed and email inbox filling up with discussions around quacks who peddle misinformation and confusion around healthy eating. I’m not a fan of demonising an individual food or nutrient, and I’m certainly not a fan of the amount of money that such an overly-simplistic approach can make. But I’m also not keen on ‘bashing’ individuals for promoting these kind of approaches to eating. Personal attacks easily step into the realm of maliciousness, and I have never seen them to be very effective- they just get people’s backs up.

Adopting a more constructive approach and taking small steps to help others realign their approach to food, however… Now, that’s the way forward.

That’s why I was excited to come across Nosh a month or two ago, on another Dietitian’s blog, Cheering for Nutrition. Nosh is a new online magazine that is published by Australian Dietitians. All of its content comes from Accredited Practising…

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Exploring Fats. Part Three: Omega-3 Fatty Acids and Fish Oils.

Nourish Me Simply

This post has been a long time coming, but it’s also been one of the topics I’ve been most looking forward to exploring on this blog.

I try to put a reasonable amount of effort into researching each post that’s about nutritional science. This ensures that the information I’m giving you is accurate, but also gives me a valuable opportunity to read the latest research in depth, and contributes towards the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) that I have to do to be accredited as an APD anyway. I actually find writing these blogs helps to reinforce what I’m reading in the scientific literature, so even just from a self-centred point of view, it works well!

After finishing this series on fats, I’m actually looking forward to branching out a bit and looking at other aspects of enjoying healthy eating, such as recipes, tips, and overcoming barriers to eating healthily. We’ll see…

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New article at eDietitians.com: Healthy Bones

Congratulations to Sonia for her article over at edietitcians which she shares the link to in her latest blog.

Nourish Me Simply

Breakfast is a great opportunity to enjoy dairy foods as part of your daily routine. Milk, yoghurt and cheese are some of the best food sources of calcium, a vital bone nutrient.
Image courtesy of Joephotostudio / Free Digital Photos.net

Sorry for being so quiet over the last month. But at the same time, you’ll be pleased to hear that I had a great time interstate with my parents. At the moment, I’m working on the final article in the three-part series on fats, this time on Omega-3. It’s a fascinating area of research to be exploring, and I really look forward to publishing the verdict here in the next few days.

In the meantime, my second article has been published over at eDietitians.com. This time, it’s on ‘Healthy Bones’ and how nutrition can help you maintain healthy bones for longer. With osteoporosis being such a major issue in post-menopausal women and men…

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Butter or margarine?

An interesting discussion on butter or margarine.

Nourish Me Simply

Butter or margarine? One of the many choices when it comes to food that seems to offer no easy answer.

The camps

If you’re from the butter camp, chances are you’re aware that margarine “is naturally grey” and is only yellow because of the “artificial colours” that are added. You might see margarine as a concoction of chemicals, full of trans fats (even worse than saturated ‘animal’ fats), and not “real food” that we are made to eat.

If you’re in the margarine camp, chances are that you know most of the fat in butter is saturated ‘animal’ fat, which is the type that raises cholesterol in your body. When visiting a friend who uses butter, you might be wracked with pangs of guilt, with images of clogged arteries speeding through your mind.

Or you might be sitting on the fence, waiting for a post like this to come along!

The facts

When it comes…

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Paleo Diets

Nourish Me Simply

Paleo Diets have received quite a bit of attention in recent times. Aimed at mimicking a traditional hunter gatherer way of eating, Paleo Diets encourage eating plenty of vegetables, fruit, meat, poultry and fish, while cutting out all grains, legumes, dairy and processed foods.

Interested in whether their touted benefits play out?

Check out my recent article over at eDietitians.com. Comments and questions are welcome!

Image courtesy of tiverylucky at Free Digital Photos.net.

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Fat vs Sugar. Who can you trust?

On her nutrition blog Sonia likes to tackle commonly asked questions about nutrition.  She enlightens her audience on the research and strives to give a balanced discussion of the issue. She invites suggestions for blogs from her readers.

Nourish Me Simply

I feel like I’ve had a big week this week. The weather here in Melbourne has also been a bit lousy, which is never good for one’s mood. Although, given that it’s currently winter here, it’s hardly surprising! Tuesday, with its gale-force winds and rain, was particularly unpleasant. I was grateful not to be in Canberra (Australia’s capital), though, where locals had similar winds, but a maximum of just 6 degrees Celsius.

I’m not usually one for watching long TV programs or movies. But on days like Tuesday, there’s nothing like cosying up to a hot drink and hot water bottle, and sitting down for some good TV.

Some of you may have heard of popular personalities promoting diets high in butter and other animal fats, and saying that sugar is ‘toxic’. Many of you have probably heard of the old ‘low-fat’ eating advice, which was recommended by health professionals a decade or more ago…

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Nutrition-Related Articles from Around the Web

Sonia keeps a nutrition oriented blog.

Nourish Me Simply

Right now, I’m in one of those busy phases that we all get into from time to time. Next week, I’m venturing interstate for one week, which caps off what has been a frantic couple of weeks.

So rather than writing a new post, for now I thought I would take this opportunity to share with you all a few nutrition-related blog posts or articles that are really worth reading.

Source: Witthaya Phonsawat, Free Digital Photos.net

Superfoods: more like a super myth (from Associate Professor Tim Crowe’s blog, Thinking Nutrition)

Why are we chasing our tails?  (Alex, Accredited Practising Dietitian at The Dietitian’s Pantry, questions why we are always chasing the latest diet, rather than returning back to a simple and balanced way of eating that we know works)

The ‘Dietitians are spoon fed by the food industry’ rebuttal (from Accredited Practising Dietitian Larina Robinson’s website, The Body Dietetics)

Health Check:…

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