By Matt O’Neill

High-protein diets are hot news, attracting millions of dieters and considerable controversy in the media. Will increasing the protein level in your diet lead to lasting fat loss, without compromising your health?

The major benefit of protein in a fat loss diet appears to relate to the enhancement of satiety, curbing of hunger and resulting reduction in energy consumption. but this aspect has only been recently promoted. To understand the protein story fully and be able to relate it to clients, it’s helpful to know the early chapters of this ongoing nutrition issue.

When Dr Robert Atkins published the “Dr Atkins diet revolution” in 1972, it became a best-seller, despite its radical formulation that defied medical authorities. His eating plan cut carbohydrate intake down to 20g per day in the initial phase and substantially elevated dietary protein.

Atkins’ major claim was that dramatically reducing carbohydrate puts your body into a state of ketosis, the biological starvation mode that causes rapid mobilisation of body fat stores for energy. The potential appetite-suppressing effects of protein didn’t appear to be recognised by Atkins, or at least they were not promoted well.

Atkins’ diet was met with immediate condemnation from health authorities, who correctly judged it to be deficient in the key vitamins, minerals and fibre that are provided by complex carbohydrate foods.

Perhaps the greatest concern though, was the high fat level in Atkins’ diet. In the early 1970s, health authorities had only really just started broadcasting warning messages about saturated fat and its strong link with high blood cholesterol levels and heart disease. The Atkins diet, seemingly full of bacon, eggs and steak was so counter to healthy eating that it never had a chance, nor should it have, of becoming a recommended dietary option for weight loss.

Over time, Atkins’ supporters abandoned him in favour of low-fat diets widely promoted and accepted for both enhancing weight loss and reducing coronary heart disease risk.

Enter the zone

Despite the focus on cutting dietary fat in the 1990s, carbohydrate continued to receive its share of negative press. When dr barry sears released “enter the zone” in 1995, it offered dieters a less severe carbohydrate restriction. The zone promoted a strict dietary ratio of 30% fat, 40% carbohydrate and 30% protein. Its success was short lived, not only because “zoners” found it difficult to adhere to the exact macronutrient ratio, but due to criticism of sears for a number of technical errors in his book relating to nutritional biochemistry. Without the support of academics and health authorities, the zone zoned out, like many diet fads. Similar to Atkins, the role of protein in reducing appetite took a back seat to a more complicated and confusing biochemical explanation for sears’ diet.

Return of Atkins

By the end of the 1990s low-fat diets had failed to deliver on their slimming promises, at least in the public’s eye. Obesity rates continued to escalate, giving Atkins the opportunity to make a comeback, by once again targeting carbohydrate as the culprit. In 2001, the “Dr Atkins’ new diet revolution” was unleashed on a new generation of slimmers.

The diet was subsequently reformulated to limit saturated fats and recommend monounsaturated fats such as olive oil. Unlike three decades previous, there was now a larger and more readily available range of low-fat, high-protein foods, including lean meats, low-fat daily products and of course protein bars and shakes.

All these factors and increased awareness of Atkins, now driven by internet promotion and digital “word of mouse” attracted enough interest from nutritional scientists to put the diet to the test. Until then, there had been little quality research examining low-carbohydrate, high-protein diets for weight loss. Even so, the new Atkins’ diet was still too low in carbohydrate to be a healthy option.

The research reveals

In 2003, the first two new studies comparing low-carbohydrate, high-protein diets over six and twelve months were published in the new England journal of medicine. Both studies found that subjects lost considerably more weight at six months eating Atkins-type diets versus more conventional weight loss diets. However, the twelvemonth study found at the end that subjects lost almost identical amounts of weight.

Although trophied as proof Atkins worked, these studies had relatively few subjects and had a high drop-out rate which limited the findings. It was also unknown how much fat versus muscle subjects lost. A 2004 six-month study did however find significantly less lean muscle loss on an Atkins-type diet.
Since then, other studies have revealed similar outcomes: better initial weight loss at six months or less on a low-carbohydrate, high-protein diet , but little if any difference in weight loss over longer periods when compared to a diet of the same total energy, but with recommended levels of carbohydrate and protein.

Although mentioned, few of these studies directly addressed the role of protein in appetite suppression, particularly in the initial stages of a diet. Most researchers were quick to point out that it’s daily energy restriction and not specific proportions of macronutrients that is paramount for lasting weight loss.

Protein and appetite

The July 2005 issue of the American journal of clinical nutrition (ajcn) shined the spotlight on protein and appetite. Researchers at the university of Washington showed that an increase in protein from 15% to 30% of energy and a reduction in fat from 35% to 20%, at a constant carbohydrate intake, resulted in a spontaneous drop in average daily energy consumption of 441 calories.

A big mac has around 500 calories, so this figure is substantial. Subjects had higher ratings of satiety and lower ratings of hunger on the higher-protein diet.

This is not the first study to show reduced energy intake with a higher-protein diet, but it will be a strong stimulus for more research in this area. The Washington team could only speculate why protein produced greater satiety and that it may relate to complex hormonal systems involving leptin, which is produced by fat cells.

In the journal’s editorial, professor Arne Astrup from Denmark commented: “the problem nowadays is that many people are extremely sedentary, which makes it possible to over-eat even when dietary intakes are relatively small… this is why the current focus of science is to increase the satiating power of the diet, so that people feel full with fewer calories.”

High protein and health

Feeling full with fewer calories is a simple dietary proposition and one where protein may have always had its greatest use in fat loss diets. However, questions still remain about how to improve adherence to higher-protein diets, and more importantly, about the long-term health impact of such diets.

Most of the controversy over higher-protein diets surrounds the potentially negative impact on heart and bowel health. Current recommendations for red meat consumption are three to four serves a week and some diets recommend greater amounts. Questions also remain regarding the effects of raising protein on kidney function and bone status.

Matt O’Neill is a top Australian nutritionist and regular on Channel 7’s Sunrise program. You can subscribe to Matt’s free email newsletter, download useful tools or enrol in a course at his website at www.SmartShape.com.au

By Joanna McMillan Price

I was once with a couple of friends when one of them offered to share her bag of peaches. “Are they organic?” asked my other friend and proceeded to tell us she would now eat only organic fruit and vegetables. Yet that same weekend we were all out for a drink and she casually lit up a cigarette. On seeing my surprise and obvious disapproval, she said, “Oh, I don’t really smoke, just socially when having a drink.”

It struck me that while most of us want to improve our health and do make changes in an attempt to do that, we don’t always make the change that will have the biggest impact first. Eating more fruit and vegetables cannot protect from the ravages of too much wine at night, while choosing low GI foods is not the best protection from diabetes if you only ever move from your car to your desk to your sofa! Think of it as climbing a ladder, with each change you make taking you closer to the top — a place where you have maximised your chances of good health, wellbeing and longevity. Make the big changes at the bottom of the ladder first and, as you climb, progress to the smaller ones.

 1. Stop smoking

OK, so many of you are saying, “Who still smokes, for goodness sake?” Plenty of people do and they’re not just young girls. According to The Cancer Council NSW, in 2004, 18.6 per cent of Australian men and 16.3 per cent of women were smoking daily.

Certainly the highest rates were found to be among those in their 20s, so we do get wiser with age, but this age group accounted for less than one-quarter of the total numbers. Furthermore, these figures don’t take into account those social smokers such as my friend who classifies herself as a non-smoker. Don’t kid yourself. Every cigarette causes damage. In 1998, there were about 19,000 smoking-related deaths in Australia. There is no other change you could make that would have a bigger impact on your health, not to mention the way you look and the way you feel. Give up now. 

2. If you drink, do it the French way: little and often

When my lovely hubby puts away a bottle of red wine after a stressful day at work, he looks at my raised eyebrows and says, “What? It’s red wine and you said that was good for me!” The trouble with alcohol is a little on a regular basis can be good and certainly red wine has good quantities of antioxidants thought to be beneficial to our health. But take the message too far, as is all too easy, and you tip the scale towards damage. If we look at a population level, the relationship between alcohol intake and mortality is what’s called a J-shaped curve. In other words, those who drink a little have the best health, particularly in relation to heart disease, even better than abstainers. Interestingly, this is the way the French (and people in many other European countries) tend to drink. But as you increase the number of drinks per day, the graph takes a sharp turn upwards and keeps climbing. A further problem is that alcohol affects people in different ways. If you have a family history of heart disease, a couple of drinks a day may be of benefit, but if breast cancer affects your family, you would do well to abstain. This is before even mentioning the health of your liver (and while France may be doing well on the heart disease front, it does have a relatively high rate of liver cirrhosis!). The Australian guidelines for men are no more than four standard drinks a day on average and no more than six standard drinks on any one day. For women, it’s no more than two standard drinks a day on average and no more than four standard drinks on any one day. Both men and women should also have one or two alcohol-free days a week. If you think this sounds like a lot, bear in mind that the glass of wine you pour at home is likely to be at least 1.5 standard drinks, perhaps even two. A standard drink of wine is 100ml, yet the usual serve in a restaurant is 180ml.

3. Move briskly for at least 30 minutes a day

We live in what the experts call an obesigenic environment. Modern life does not make it easy for us to do the exercise and activity our bodies need to be healthy, while making it all too easy to overeat. We need activity to survive.

It doesn’t matter how slim you are or how well you eat, if you are not moving, your body will suffer. You need movement to stimulate your gut to work effectively; to keep a good blood flow that enables the optimal delivery of oxygen and nutrients to all areas of the body, including the brain; to keep your heart and lungs working properly; to prevent back pain and other musculoskeletal disorders; and, of course, to manage weight.

If you now do very little, you have the most to gain. There are enormous advantages to health in moving from sedentary to moderately active. Thereafter, the gains diminish. It doesn’t take much — 30 minutes of moderate-intensity activity will reap the rewards. That means any activity that makes you feel warmer with a slight increase in your breathing. Brisk walking will do it for most, but gardening, golfing carrying your own clubs need not all be in one session — you can accumulate the 30 minutes in two or three slots: for example, a 10-minute walk to the train station in the morning, a 10-minute walk around the block at lunchtime and a final 10-minute walk home in the evening.

4. Eat more vegetables and fruit

While there is much controversy in the world of nutrition, this is the one consistent dietary message from (almost) all camps. Dr Atkins is the stand-out: in his bid to cut carbohydrates to impossible levels, he recommended restricting these foods. While he may have been right about some things, scientific and historical evidence shows this is not one of them. Modern scientific research has identified numerous phytonutrients in plant foods that are of potential benefit for human health. Future research is certain to uncover yet more. That means no supplement can match this array of nutrients.

Eating more vegetables and fruit is probably the most important dietary change you can make. There is compelling evidence that a diet rich in these foods cuts your risk of heart disease and stroke. It can help you to lower your blood pressure and cholesterol, prevent some types of cancer, keep your gut healthy, preventing illnesses such as diverticulitis, and even prevent vision loss caused by macular degeneration or cataract.

Most people find it easy to eat more fruit, but getting enough vegetables is more difficult. The national health promotion campaign of seven a day is not based on the ideal amount, rather the amount deemed achievable by most Australians. The latest US dietary guidelines promote up to 13 serves a day! Try to include vegetables whenever you can — they should make up half the plate for lunch and dinner meals. The more varieties you include, the better (but potatoes don’t count!), and go for an array of colours. The colours usually come from the antioxidants present, so the more colours, the broader your protection.

5. Move vigorously at least three times a week 

Once you are active on most days, add a few sessions of vigorous exercise into your week. I often hear (from men particularly) “I don’t like exercising for exercise’s sake.” Well, in today’s world, you’re going to have to if you want the best health. In the past, physical labour was a part of most people’s daily chores, but that’s no longer true for most people. Yes, exercise can be hard work and tough to find the time, but the rewards are enormous. Vigorous means it should make you “huff  and puff ”. Jogging, hard cycling (including indoor cycling), brisk rowing, circuit training, aerobics classes, some active yoga classes and participation in most sports all count. If you are overweight, getting fit is more important than losing weight. The founder of the famous Cooper Institute in Dallas, Texas, Dr Kenneth Cooper (who introduced “aerobics” to the world in the late 1960s), has shown with his research over the past three decades that being fat and fit is preferable to being thin and unfit. Throw out the scales and join the gym instead!

6. Chooser healthier fats, not less fat

The advice to eat a low-fat diet is out of date. The latest research shows it is not the total amount of fat in your diet that’s important but the type of fat. The worst kind of fat is trans fat. This fat occurs in only tiny amounts naturally but is created during the hydrogenation of vegetable oils in food processing. The first step in improving your fat intake is to avoid trans fats wherever you can. While margarines were a major source, most manufacturers have cleaned up their act and packaged foods are now the worst culprits — and it’s not required that the trans fat content be listed on the nutrition panel. Read the ingredient list and if the word “hydrogenated” appears, put it back. Deep-fat fryers are another common source of trans fats, so avoid deep- fried foods in restaurants. If you base your diet on mostly fresh, whole foods and very few packaged, processed foods, you can be assured of a low trans fat intake.

The second fats to cut down on are saturated fats. These tend to raise your blood cholesterol and may even be more readily stored as body fat compared with unsaturated fats. Primarily, these are animal fats, so you can reduce your intake by choosing lean meats and low-fat dairy products and by using less butter. Palm oil, used in many food products, is also highly saturated, so, again, consuming fewer processed foods is a major step in the right direction. However, not all saturated fats raise cholesterol. Those found in coconut fat and cocoa butter, used to make “proper” chocolate, are exceptions to the rule.

The fats to go for instead are those found in olive oil, avocado, nuts, seeds and oils made from them. The fats we need more of are the omega-3 fats found in oily fish, cod liver oil, seafood, omega-3-rich eggs and linseed. To get enough, you need to be eating oily fish at least twice a week and it seems that good old-fashioned cod liver oil may be the best supplement you can take after all.

7. Choose wholegrains and eat less white flour and refined sugar

Most of us know that too much sugar does us no favours, but white flour is probably even worse. The glycaemic index (GI), a ranking of how foods affect blood sugar levels, shows most products based on white flour have some of the highest GI values, which are mostly higher than for sugary products. The refining of flour also removes numerous nutrients as most are found in the bran part of the grain. Let’s not make the same mistake with carbohydrates that we have with fats — the quality is more important than the quantity.

Go organic

This is the top rung in the ladder, not because I don’t think it’s important or beneficial, but because I have no doubt that the other changes will make a bigger impact on your health. This is the icing on the cake.

We can argue about the nutritional and taste benefits, but there is no doubting the ethical and environmental value of its farming practices. It’s just a shame they can’t be made universal. I agree wholeheartedly with the organic philosophy, but the price differential is a barrier to most Australians. If you can afford it, go for it.  

Joanna is a popular media spokesperson and is the resident nutrition expert for the Today show on the Nine Network. She is a health writer for Life etc magazine and writes a regular column “Ask the Food Doctor” for Slimming & Health. Joanna has authored or co-authored a number of books including the internationally published The Low GI Diet and The Low GI Diet Cookbook. Most recently Joanna teamed up with ‘The Food Coach’ Judy Davie and their joint book Star Foods (ABC Books) was released April 2008. Her next book is a must have guide for all women who want to look and feel their best, called Inner Health Outer Beauty. It will be released by Random House April 2009. www.joannamcmillanprice.com 

by Catherine Saxelby

A glass or two of red is proving to be good for you, as many wine buffs have long believed.

Red wine is held responsible for the so - called French Paradox - or why France has the second lowest rate of heart disease in the Western world (after Japan) when they indulge in butter, cream, pate and rich food. Could it be due to the large quantities of red wine the French enjoy?

The link between red wine and heart disease, which stemmed from cross-country comparisons back in the 1970s, has been confirmed by the World Health Organisation.

Countries like France, Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece, where wine is popular, have fewer deaths from heart disease than countries such as Finland, Ireland, the UK, Sweden and Australia, where beer and spirits predominate.

The Copenhagen City Heart Study, which followed the health of over 7000 men and 5000 women for twelve years, reported that moderate wine drinkers had half the risk of heart disease and stroke than those who never drank, while beer drinkers had a modest benefit but spirits very little.

What is it about wine that makes it so beneficial?

1. Wine is generally drunk with a meal, as in France, and biochemicals in food may offset any of the damage caused by excess alcohol. In contrast, beer and spirits are often consumed alone or with a salty, fatty snack.

2. Wine is also preferred by the better-educated and well-off, which in itself is a health advantage.

3. But it’s wine’s long list of polyphenol compounds that researchers believe confer its protective effect.
Over 50 phenolics have been identified in wine, including flavonoids and resveratrol, which are responsible for much of the colour and flavour of wines and for keeping it from going off during years of storage. But from your healths point of view, they:

* function as antioxidants and keep the bad cholesterol from being oxidised

* reduce any thickening of the arteries

* keep the blood unclogged and free-flowing (an effect similar to aspirin).

Red wine, made with the skins and seeds, has about ten times more of these natural chemicals than white wine.

One such grape substance, resveratrol, has attracted much attention.

Resveratrol is produced by the grape to help it fight off fungal infections and in studies from the University of Illinois, has been shown to inhibit tumour growth at three different stages of cancer, preventing the spread of malignant cells.

It too can minimise oxygen damage to tissues, reduce clumping of blood cells and may lower cholesterol.

But it’s not the only one. Other flavonoids such as quercetin, epicatechin and rutin have been tested and found to be even more powerful than resveratrol and are present in higher concentrations.

These heart-protecting substances are also found in grapes, other fruit, tea and onions. A much-quoted Dutch study reported that people who consumed large amounts of tea and onions had the lowest risk of heart problems.

Catherine Saxelby is an accredited nutritionist and author of 9 books including Nutrition for Life. For more tips and ideas, go to her website at www.foodwatch.com.au

By Kaitlin Walsh

IT’S ON for young and old. December hits and with it the banquets, the buffets, the drinks, the nibbles – the extra salt, extra sugar, extra fat and … extra kilos. Yet it need not be so. Follow this simple guide to eating less to reduce your waistline – and your New Year regrets.

Step one: be mindful of portion size

Research shows that we are inclined to believe that whatever sized meal we are presented is appropriate and many of us will guts the lot on that basis – even if we dimly realise that it looks rather large and tell ourselves that that we will make up for it by eating less at the next meal. This seldom happens and we tuck in next time with just as much gusto. So go small. In a world of upsized everything, it’s time to take a step down and not eat everything on our plates. If it comes with fries, order it without. If it comes with sauce or dressing, order a half portion on the side. Eat slowly and order the small size of everything, whether at the movies, in a restaurant, eating takeaway. Do not be convinced that you are saving money buy buying a bigger sized snack, meal or ‘treat’ – it’s the oldest marketing trick in the book. All it does is get you way more calories than you need – for just a little bit more than you would have spent otherwise. Which makes you a two-time loser.

Step two: focus on your food

It sounds counterintuitive, but many, many studies have shown that the more distracted you are, the more likely you are to eat more, while if you think and focus on your food you may make wiser choices. That’s why TV snacks and cinema buckets of popcorn should sound the alert, loud and clear. You can easily dispose of a packet of Maltesers and a choc and barely realise it. So avoid eating except when your focus is on what and how much. This applies equally to parties where snacks and canapés are being passed around while you chat and charm the other guests. Decide beforehand what you will eat, forego the fried nibblies and nuts and home in on a moderate number of foods that are decent. Scope the canapés or snacks on offer, decide what are the ‘safest’ and literally limit and then count the number of items you eat. And sure, have a couple of less-healthy bits for enjoyment but keep it to just that – a couple.

Step three : beware the buffet

You need to approach a buffet with well planned, military precision. You know that old saying about the ‘dessert stomach’ – that is you may feel more than elegantly sufficed after the main course but can always squeeze in some chocolate? Well, it may have a basis in scientific fact. Increasingly, nutritionists believe that we are programmed to crave and eat a variety of foods to ensure our bodies get the variety of nutrients we need. Hence our ability to load up four plates of different food types at a buffet. Yes – we have all at least seen (if not done) it. Of course evolution is a bit behind the eight ball here having not quite caught up with the variety of foods on offer at almost every turn (have you checked the tuna aisle lately?). So we need to focus on what’s available, what we really want, what is an appropriate serving and stick to a plan. Aim to eat one plate, several different food varieties – and a small dessert if so minded.

Step four: consider the energy load

Take the edge off your appetite with foods that enable you to eat lashings with relatively little calorific expenditure. So remember that you can literally load up on fish, veggies, lean meats (bear in mind that lean protein is great for staving off hunger – giving what we call ‘satiety’) with tasty low calories dips and sauces – which will ‘cost’ you exactly the same of just a tablespoon or so of oil, a single donut or fried item or a handful of salty snacks. Be aware of how much veggie equals how much oil equals how much animal fat equals how much fish and so on so you can make intelligent decisions. To give you an idea, there are four calories in a gram of carbohydrate or protein and nine calories in a gram of fat. These nutrients also differ in how quickly and easily they can be metabolised and burned as energy. Carbohydrates are the quickest and fats are the slowest. So you can eat way more fat, way more quickly – and it takes way longer to burn it off than carbs or proteins.

Step five: get the soup habit

Intersperse your big meals and nights out with some truly lean occasions that will help reduce your overall intake, provide you with high quality nutrients and satisfy your hunger. Yep – we are talking delicious, home made vegetable soup. Saute some onion, carrot, garlic and celery in a spray of olive oil. Add any spices or flavourings you want – a touch of cumin works well – then add stock or water and all your favourite veggies and legumes such as beans, lentils or chick peas. A dollop of tomato paste can add further flavour. Eat up as big as you like and know that you’ve done every bit of yourself a favour. Try that a few times a week to give yourself a break and your body will thank you for it. Keep some frozen stocks on had so you never have an excuse to avoid it and experiment with recipes to ensure you get the variety and enjoyment we all crave.

The sting in the tail is, of course, that if you drink buckets of alcohol as you go, much of the good you do will be undone. As well as the calorie load imparted, being affected by alcohol impairs your judgement and you may well find yourself blissfully uncaring about what you eat. Until the next day – or 3am the following morning.

So remember – intersperse your alcoholic drinks with soda or plain water, go for light beer and remember how good it feels not to be hung over, remorseful or embarrassed the day after a big event. Leave that to somebody else this year.

This is article is courtesy of Super Living. Live and invest with attitude

by Joanna McMillan Price

Life used to be simple. You spread butter on your bread, melted it over vegetables and used it in cooking. Then new research discovered that saturated fat raises our cholesterol and increases our risk of heart disease.

More than 65 per cent of the fat in butter is saturated. Very quickly butter topped the “bad food” list.
Margarine, originally produced as a cheap spread, was suddenly promoted as the healthy choice and sales took off. Then scientists discovered the chemical process used to turn an oil into a spread created a type of fat called trans fat that was even worse than saturated fat.

Margarine was invented by a Frenchman in 1870, although it only became popular during and after the war years. Today, margarine sales far outweigh butter sales, largely because of the perceived health benefits. But can a modern manufactured product really be healthier than the fat made from churning wholesome cow’s milk? As a passionate believer in eating “real” food as much as possible, I struggle with the idea that we can manufacture something that is better for us than a relatively simple food consumed for thousands of years. But I’ll give you the facts and you can make up your own mind.

The saturated fat in butter is not good for us as it tends to raise “bad” LDL cholesterol in blood, increasing our risk of heart disease. Plus, manufacturers of margarines responded quickly to the information on trans fats and produced a new generation of margarines with little or no trans fats.

Because of the oils used to make margarine such as canola, sunflower, olive and soy it’s generally high in healthy mono and polyunsaturated fats, which have the ability to lower LDL cholesterol. In fact, a
US study of 46 families published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that substituting margarine for butter lowered blood cholesterol levels.

Plant sterol margarines, which bind cholesterol in the gut, preventing it from being re-absorbed, take it a step further. Studies have shown that these margarines can be effective in lowering cholesterol. There’s no doubt that if you have pre-existing high cholesterol levels, a plant sterol margarine can help, possibly reducing the need for cholesterol-lowering drugs. The only catch is you have to make sure you use
enough of it — a fairly generous spread on 3-4 slices of bread — and it’s more expensive.

Butter lovers can take heart from the fact that butter contains several essential nutrients — in particular, the fat-soluble vitamins A, D and E. In our obsession with reducing fat, we were actually neglecting these nutrients, though margarines are now fortified with them.

So what will it be — butter or margarine? I’m going to play devil’s advocate and suggest neither. Butter is clearly not the best sort of fat for heart health. Margarine is a modern invention and not a part of traditional diets around the world. An olive oil margarine is not the same as a Mediterranean-style, olive oil-based diet, and an omega-3 enriched margarine is not the same as a diet high in fish and seafood.

Try brushing your bread with olive oil, use a nut spread on toast, spread mashed avocado in sandwiches and cook with olive or other healthy oils. It’s simple, really.

Joanna is a popular media spokesperson and is the resident nutrition expert for the Today show on the Nine Network. She is a health writer for Life etc magazine and writes a regular column “Ask the Food Doctor” for Slimming & Health. Joanna has authored or co-authored a number of books including the internationally published The Low GI Diet and The Low GI Diet Cookbook. Most recently Joanna teamed up with ‘The Food Coach’ Judy Davie and their joint book Star Foods (ABC Books) was released April 2008. Her next book is a must have guide for all women who want to look and feel their best, called Inner Health Outer Beauty. It will be released by Random House April 2009. www.joannamcmillanprice.com

by Catherine Saxelby

Every second week or so, someone asks me the same old question: “Should I avoid carbohydrates after 6pm (or 5pm or 4pm) if I want to lose some weight?” So I thought I’d let you in on what I usually advise and you can pass it along to your friends and family.

Cutting out carbs like potato, pasta or rice with dinner is simply a way of cutting down on kilojoules (calories). That’s all. There’s nothing magical about the timing.

Here’s what you’ll save:
• Cut out a large baked potato and you reduce your dinner intake by 580 kJ (140 cals).
• Cut out a cup of steamed white rice and you’re down 770 kJ (185 cals).
• Cut out a cup of cooked spaghetti and you’re down 840 kJ (200 cals).

So out of a total dinner intake of say 1680 kilojoules (400 cals) for a steak, potato and salad, you can knock off more than 50 per cent if you say “No” to the carbs. That’s why you lose weight!

Eat light at night

However, I do think it’s a really good idea to eat lightly at night. Why? Well, most of us are at our least active in the evening – think of all those reality TV and talent shows we sit and watch – and so we’re less likely to burn off any excess.

BUT there’s no point in eating an unbalanced meal – it only sets you up to pick at chocolate or ice cream later on when you’re still hungry. A steak or fish fillet with non-starchy vegetables like green beans or tomato or a salad (even a large one) is not a balanced meal. It needs some carbs - but just a small portion - and you’ll finish the meal feeling a lot more satisfied. Just half of cup of rice or pasta or a small potato will balance things out nicely. I’ve changed the quantities of carbohydrates I now eat at night in line with this and found it much easier to maintain my weight. I’ve said good-bye to those huge bowls of pasta with fat-free sauce I used to tuck into – and I feel better for it.

If you really want to cut down, ditch the glass (or two or three) of wine you have with your meal. Two glasses of dry wine, red or white, add an extra 1000 kJ (240 cals), much more than a humble spud or spag.

Remember, I’m talking about the usual-sized glasses of wine which average 160 or 180ml, not the small 100ml old-fashioned glass that serves as the official measure of a ‘standard’ drink. This doesn’t exist anymore. These days, no-one drinks from one of those – I still have a small old wine glass of my father’s that I show when I give talks just to illustrate how sizes have increased over the past 10 years.

Catherine Saxelby is an accredited nutritionist and author of 9 books including Nutrition for Life. For more tips and ideas, go to her website at www.foodwatch.com.au

by Matt O’Neill

You want to build a better diet for you and your clients. But will the latest nutrition trends help, or just add to the confusion? Dietician Matt O’Neill separates the positives from the pitfalls.

The obesity crisis is putting the pinch on fast foods and the food industry is scrambling to meet the demands of busy consumers who are demanding quick, healthy options. There is a boom in convenience foods at supermarkets, takeaways and service stations. But convenience and other trends could come at a price.

1. low-carb becomes slow-carb

Market researchers have predicted a peak in the low-carbohydrate craze and a downward trend in sales of low-carb foods. The new trend is “slow-carbs”, based on the concept of the Glycaemic Index (GI). Hungry, frustrated low-carbers are turning to less processed, wholegrain cereals for food, which are filling but not fattening.

• positives

Atkins and the low-carb diet gurus have spawned a whole new range of lower carbohydrate and lean, high-protein foods. If you know what you’re doing, you’ve now got more options to create the diet you want. Carb-reduced pasta, prepackaged “98% fat-free” deli meats and high-protein shakes offer simple ways to cut calories and still eat well. Low GI foods such as porridge, oat bran cereals, yoghurt and others can help you feel full before you eat too much.

• pitfalls

The attraction of low-carb diets won’t dwindle overnight, so there’s still lots of confusion to combat. For example, it’s hard to exercise without enough carbohydrates to keep your glycogen stores fuelled. But you also can’t over-eat or over-drink low GI products just because they have a low GI logo endorsement on the package. Helping clients better manage their hunger and appetite is the key here.

2. fast food becomes low-fat

Morgan Spurlock’s Academy Award nominated “Supersize Me” documentary about the fast food industry was a wake-up call for the multinational burger business. Now major players like McDonalds have introduced lower-fat burgers and salads in response to media pressure and demand for healthier choices.

• positives

Making the change from a regular burger to a lower-fat version will reduce the saturated fat that raises blood cholesterol. Ready-to-eat salads offer a genuine calorie saving and can represent one of the best on-the-go lunch-time options around.

• pitfalls

Some new “less than 10% fat” menu items aren’t necessarily lower in calories. Flatbread wraps, in particular, contain significantly more carbohydrates than burgers with light, fluffy buns and this can cancel out the calorie savings made when cutting the fat. Check the nutrition information to see if you’ve got a good deal for your waist line as well as your heart.

3. bars become a meal

Breakfast and snack bars are the big growth area in convenience foods. They offer fast nutrition for time-poor consumers, even on the way to and from the gym.

• positives

There are a wide range of low-fat, fruit-based snack bars which are much better choices than the three Cs: cookies, cakes and chocolate.

• pitfalls

Although many bars are low in fat, they often contain large amounts of sugar. Some are one-third to half sugar, and this means you won’t save too many calories. And a warning to fitness enthusiasts: swapping processed energy and protein bars for fresh fruit means you’ll miss out on a bundle of health-promoting antioxidants.

4. meals become drinks

If you haven’t got time to eat, why not drink your nutrition? Juice and smoothie bars are capitalising on our busy lives, providing liquid meals in a flash. Cafés and coffeebars have an added hook by providing a caffeine fix alternative for ex- and would-be smokers.

• positives

Vegetable juices offer a relatively low-calorie nutrient boost, packed with vitamins and antioxidants. Adding a banana and strawberries to a skimmed milk smoothie can top up your daily fruit serves.

• pitfalls

Fruit juice and dairy drinks can pack a lot of calories that slide down too easily. They enjoy a healthy image, but are not so healthy for our waist lines. Serve sizes, some as large as 800 millilitres can provide more calories than the meal you would’ve eaten. Go easy on these.

5. kids’ food becomes healthy

With up to 25% of children carrying excessive body fat, food companies are offering calorie-conscious kids’ foods at supermarkets and school canteens.

• positives

There’s an increasing range of healthier foods, marketed in interesting and fun ways for our kids. Fat-reduced, tasty savoury snacks, fruit packs and calcium-rich low-fat dairy desserts are good options. Even for adults, these are worth checking out.

• pitfalls

Some food companies continue to promote the idea that simply cutting fat makes food healthy for kids. Promoting a sweet treat as “99% fat free” ignores the high sugar content.

6. food becomes medicine

Health-conscious, or perhaps disease-phobic, consumers are looking for dietary alternatives to medicines to enhance wellbeing. The line between food and drugs has blurred with innovative food products known as “pharmafoods”, “neutrafoods” and just plain “phood” (food and medicine).

• positives

So-called functional foods can offer real benefits, especially for people with specific needs. Products with enhanced levels of omega-3 fats, soluble fibre and a range of phytochemicals (beneficial plant chemicals) offer simple ways to boost the intake of the good nutrients that are often lacking in our diet.

• pitfalls

Without getting the basics of good nutrition right first, navigating through a supermarket that looks more like a drug store could be very confusing. Individual foods won’t offer a quick fix for a poor lifestyle. You can also expect to pay a premium for these food products as food companies try to recoup the costs of developing and marketing new “phoods”.

final thought

Our fast-paced lifestyle is reshaping the way we eat at an alarming rate. To make healthy informed choices, we’ll need to slow down enough to read nutrition information and ask if it’s not available. Helping your clients understand and read food labels will help equip them to eat well into the future.

Matt O’Neill is a top Australian nutritionist and regular on Channel 7’s Sunrise program. You can subscribe to Matt’s free email newsletter, download useful tools or enrol in a course at his website at www.SmartShape.com.au

By Joanna McMillian

A vegetarian diet is generally thought a healthy way to eat — if it’s balanced, at least. Certainly, if you cruise the aisles of any health-food shop, you’ll find a vast array of plant foods, including numerous grains and foods made from grains, but seldom anything that comes from an animal, the clear implication being the latter is not “health foods”. Research tends to support this widespread belief, suggesting vegetarians are less likely to be obese and have less chronic illness such as heart disease.

High-fibre intakes from a diet high in plant food, including whole grains, are generally shown to be beneficial, while a high meat intake has been linked to increased risk of chronic diseases such as colon cancer.

Yet, on the other side of the coin, high- protein/low-carbohydrate diets such as Atkins tell us grains are pretty toxic to us, making us fat and causing or contributing to many of the chronic diseases afflicting the developed world.

No wonder so many of us are confused over what to eat and who to believe. So should we eat grains or not?

The argument against eating grains is primarily one of evolution. Genetically, we have changed little since our hunter-gatherer days. The best evidence shows that at that time, animal foods dominated the human diet. Plant foods, too, were consumed in large quantities, but mostly those that could be eaten with little preparation or cooking. Grains are not easily harvested and can almost never be eaten direct from the plant — they require some kind of processing and/ or cooking to make them edible. Grains did not, therefore, become major dietary players until the dawn of agriculture when humans learned how to grow and harvest crops to support the community.

This process started some 10,000 years ago and from this time grains became an increasingly important part of human diets everywhere. So much so that today grains provide the staple food for many communities worldwide. Indeed, from a purely environmental point of view, we can no longer feed the world’s population on an animal-based diet — we need grains and other plant foods to sustain us.

In evolutionary terms, however, we’re talking about a very short period of time. There is therefore a valid argument that genetically we have not (yet) evolved to cope with the change from a predominantly animal-based to a more grain-based diet.

Yet there is a major flaw in this argument: while we have eaten grains for thousands of years, overweight and obesity have only become a major problem in the past 50 years. In fact, the exponential rise in obesity is only in the last 20 years. Perhaps the problem lies not in grains per se, but in what we do to them.

When humans started to eat grain foods, we would have ground it roughly between stones to crack the hard outer shell, added water to the resultant mix and then cooked it in some way. Over time, we learned how to use grain to make bread or porridge, or as a thickener in stews. We learned that grains could plump out a meal, making it go a lot further relatively cheaply.

It’s the same story today. Animal foods tend to be much more expensive, while grain foods are cheap and readily available. But we have now learned how to grind them, remove the tough outer husk and polish the grain down to just the starch-rich centre. We can then cook the polished grain to give a fluffy white rice, for example, or grind this starch centre to a fine flour to produce fluffy white breads.

Or we take the fine flour and mix it with fat and sugar to make biscuits, cakes, crackers, breakfast cereals and so on. You can see that, over time and with sophisticated food manufacturing techniques, we have moved further and further away from the grain in its natural state. In fact, all we do is strip the grain of almost all its fibre and micronutrient content and use only the energy-containing part: the starchy centre.

We can measure the effect of this processing on our body. When carbohydrate-containing foods such as grains are eaten, the food is digested and broken down in the intestine to release the individual sugars, principally glucose. These are then absorbed into the bloodstream where the glucose is transported to cells all around the body to be used as fuel or stored for later use. How quickly this happens varies, depending on the food.

This is the basis for the glycaemic index (GI). The GI compares foods, gram for gram of carbohydrate, by directly measuring the rise in blood glucose after eating the food. If we compare directly the GI of grains under increasing levels of processing — ie whole grains, cracked grains, wholemeal flour and so on — to fine flour, we see a step-wise increase in the glycaemic response.

While we have eaten grains for thousands of years, the change in the past 20-50 years has been a dramatic increase in the consumption of processed grains with a high GI. As a result, the rises and falls in our blood glucose levels today are far larger than in the past and our bodies are just not designed to cope with this.

As to whether or not grains are good for us, the answer is clearly dependent on what form the grains are in. The positive research supporting the role of grains in the diet is almost always using whole grains or minimally processed grain products. Similarly, the evidence for consuming low-GI foods grows, supporting the same conclusion. In practice, this means fewer foods made from white flour, including bread, biscuits and cakes, and less polished white rice (at least choose a lower-GI variety). Instead, we can increase our range of grains focusing on those we can consume with minimal processing and/or that have a low GI.

Venture into the health-food aisle of your supermarket and you’ll find many grains that fit the bill. While some may be new to you, interestingly they are almost always part of traditional diets from other parts of the world. Barley, thought to be one of the first grains cultivated, makes a good nutty base for a risotto-style dish. Bulgur is popular in Middle-Eastern dishes such as tabouli. FreekehTM is an ancient Mediterranean grain with more fibre, protein and micronutrients than many others. Rolled oats (even Scotland has its healthy food!) make a nutritious breakfast as porridge or muesli. And quinoa (pronounced keen-wa), a tiny South American grain that was once the food of the Incas, has a high protein content, is nutrient-rich and can be used in a similar way to couscous.

In the bread aisle, look beyond your basic sliced white bread and be adventurous in trying a selection of wholegrain options: European-style grainy breads, rye sourdough, spelt flour breads, mountain bread based on barley, rye or corn, and traditional wholemeal flat breads are all far more nutritious choices. Expand your culinary diversity beyond processed wheat and rice and the bottom line is grains can indeed be a nutritious and delicious part of your diet. We needn’t look as far back as hunter-gatherer time for lessons from the past — we can learn much from the traditional diets of our contemporaries all around the world.

Joanna is a popular media spokesperson and is the resident nutrition expert for the Today show on the Nine Network. She is a health writer for Life etc magazine and writes a regular column “Ask the Food Doctor” for Slimming & Health. Joanna has authored or co-authored a number of books including the internationally published The Low GI Diet and The Low GI Diet Cookbook. Most recently Joanna teamed up with ‘The Food Coach’ Judy Davie and their joint book Star Foods (ABC Books) was released April 2008. Her next book is a must have guide for all women who want to look and feel their best, called Inner Health Outer Beauty. It will be released by Random House April 2009. www.joannamcmillanprice.com

by Dr. Joanna McMillan Price

Soy is a health food right? Beneficial effects of soy have been reported in relation to heart disease, breast cancer, prostate cancer, menopausal symptoms, thyroid function, bone health and even cognitive function. Yet conversely media reports and numerous websites claim exactly the opposite. Frightening headlines touting “the truth about soy” allege soy is toxic to humans and causes numerous detrimental health outcomes including reproductive problems, an increased risk of breast and prostate cancers, decreased immune function, gut problems, and in children early menarche and feminisation of boys. It’s enough to turn you off your soy latte for life. But who do we believe?

Soy is a legume that is fairly unique in the plant kingdom, in that it provides all of the essential amino acids (the building blocks of protein) that humans need. In contrast almost all other plant foods are missing or low in one or more of these amino acids, meaning that vegetarians must consume a variety of plant foods to meet their protein requirements. For this reason soy beans, tofu, tempeh, soy drink and other soy foods have long been a mainstay of vegetarian and vegan diets. But on the whole soy foods have not played a major role in the typical Western diet. In contrast soy is regularly consumed by many Asians at all stages of life from weaning to old age. This difference in levels of soy consumption is what got the ball rolling in soy research. Scientists found that levels of heart disease and many cancers, including breast cancer, were far lower in these soy-eating Asian countries, compared to levels in the West. Numerous studies followed to try to identify what it was about soy that might be protective.

Research has centred on two aspects of soy – soy protein and compounds found in soy called isoflavones. Isoflavones are phytoestrogens (meaning ‘like oestrogen’) and are similar in structure to the hormone oestrogen. These phytoestrogens can act in two ways:

1.    They can act like oestrogen. This may be beneficial during menopause for example, when natural oestrogen levels are dropping. Theoretically consuming sufficient phytoestrogens-rich soy at this time can reduce menopausal symptoms.

2.    They can block the action of oestrogen. This is potentially beneficial in for example breast tissue where oestrogen stimulates growth of both normal and cancerous cells. At least one of the isoflavones in soy, called genistein, has been shown in animal studies to inhibit the development of breast cancer.

Additionally, isoflavones have been shown to be powerful antioxidants and may in this way contribute to protection against diseases including cancer and heart disease.

Soy & heart disease

In 1995 a report was published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine that concluded (on the basis of 38 controlled clinical trials) that soy protein significantly reduced blood cholesterol levels, particularly LDL (‘bad’) cholesterol, and triglycerides (another blood fat linked to an increased risk of heart disease).  On the back of this report the U.S. Food and Drug Administration now allows food manufacturers to claim on the labels of low-fat foods containing at least 6.25g of soy protein that soy can help reduce the risk of heart disease.  Many other countries, including the UK, have followed suit but as yet Food Standards Australia and New Zealand (FSANZ) have not approved such a claim here and it is unlikely that they will. A more recent review of the evidence published in the journal ‘Circulation’ earlier this year, suggests that this claim is rather premature. It concludes that soy protein has only a very small effect on LDL-cholesterol, reducing it by a meager 3% or so, while having no effect on triglycerides or ‘good’ cholesterol. Furthermore the studies showing a beneficial reduction in cholesterol used large quantities of soy - ~50g a day. In reality this equates to drinking about 7 cups of soy drink or close to 600g of tofu – every day! You would have to be pretty dedicated to keep up this level of intake. Nevertheless, the authors did recognise that consuming soy foods in place of animal foods (high in saturated fat and cholesterol) should benefit heart and overall health since soy foods are low in saturated fat, a source of healthy unsaturated fats, and rich in fibre and other nutrients. All this research is really telling us that having soy drink instead of milk and the odd tofu burger is not enough to bring down your cholesterol levels. But, choose the tofu burger over a regular burger, and replace the fattier cuts of meat in your diet with tofu or tempeh, and your heart will be thankful.

Soy & Cancer

If soy isoflavones have the ability to block the action of oestrogen, then they can potentially reduce the risk of hormone-dependent cancers such as breast and prostate. Some of the early studies comparing cancer rates across countries showed a benefit of soy consumption, and many soy and health food companies leapt on the results. However the picture is far from clear and a few worrying reports have emerged suggesting that concentrated soy supplements in fact stimulated cancer growth in subjects with existing breast cancer.  Of course this so often happens in nutrition research – scientists think they have isolated the important component of a food and try giving it as a supplement and low and behold the effects are not the same. Try as we might a good diet just cannot be packaged in a pill. There are currently several large scale studies underway to further investigate the role of soy in cancer and until the results are in, we really can’t say.

Soy and the Menopause

Many women have sworn that eating more soy foods during the menopausal years has helped to reduce symptoms such as hot flashes and mood swings. However the vast majority of studies have failed to confirm these anecdotal findings. Yet it is interesting to note that the reported incidence of hot flashes differs across countries with varying soy intakes. For example while 70-80% of European women report hot flashes, only 18% and 14% do so in China and Singapore respectively. These differences are perhaps due to the way in which soy is consumed – not as supplements but as key foods in an overall healthy diet.

Soy & Reproductive Health

Reports of girls starting menarche at an increasingly young age and the feminization of our boys and men are among the more horrific of the claims made against soy. The basis for this is legitimate enough – that if infants are fed soy formula and young children consuming soy in an increasing number of foods they are exposed to the effect of an oestrogen-like substance for a far longer period of time. Certainly infants in Asia are rarely given soy formula, but they are fed many soy foods from the age of weaning. These children have no ill effects on their reproductive systems and there seems little concern from soy foods. With respect to soy infant formula, a major study published in 2001 in the Journal of the American Medical Association, followed more than 800 men and women fed soy formula as infants into adult life. They found no significant differences between this group and those fed a cows’ milk formula, including any effects on the reproductive system. That said there are those who seem to believe soy formula is healthier and there is simply no basis for this. The bottom line is breast-feeding infants has indisputable advantages to bottle feeding, but modified cows’ milk formulas are a safe and effective alternative. Soy-based formulas were developed for use in infants allergic or intolerant to cows’ milk and therefore only consider using them if advised to do so by your doctor or health professional.

The Soy Bottom Line

While there seems little evidence to support the alarmist claims of the anti-soy network, neither is there compelling evidence that soy is quite the health food some have cracked it up to be. The traditional Asian diet, rich in soy foods, has been shown to be a healthy diet that undoubtedly plays a role in their low rates of several chronic diseases including heart disease, obesity and certain cancers. What they don’t do is take concentrated soy or isoflavone supplements, nor do they consume a plethora of processed, packaged food marketed as healthy just because it is made from soy, alongside a diet too high in saturated fat, processed foods and so on typical of many Westerners. Traditional soy foods such as tofu, soy drinks made from whole soybeans, tempeh and whole soy beans are healthy additions to your diet, particularly if they replace processed and fatty meats. But there appears to be nothing to be gained, and potentially much to lose, from trying to take the easy route and package soy in a pill.

Joanna is a popular media spokesperson and is the resident nutrition expert for the Today show on the Nine Network. She is a health writer for Life etc magazine and writes a regular column “Ask the Food Doctor” for Slimming & Health. Joanna has authored or co-authored a number of books including the internationally published The Low GI Diet and The Low GI Diet Cookbook. Most recently Joanna teamed up with ‘The Food Coach’ Judy Davie and their joint book Star Foods (ABC Books) was released April 2008. Her next book is a must have guide for all women who want to look and feel their best, called Inner Health Outer Beauty. It will be released by Random House April 2009. www.joannamcmillanprice.com

This article was first published in Life etc

by Catherine Saxelby

Everything in our lives is fast – fast cars, fast trains, fast lanes, fast money, fast broadband and of course fast food. There’s lunch on the run, dinner in under 30 minutes, 2-minutes noodles, take-away to grab and run. Life is rushed and stressful.

When we finally have time to eat, we bolt it down as quickly as we can. Often we multi-task whilst eating – we munch a sandwich at our desk, catch up with the news over dinner or read the paper over coffee and a muffin.

Now there’s a new health concept to re-train yourself to eat slow.  Like the Slow Food movement that’s supporting a return to traditional cuisine, it’s part of the philosophy that food is special and should be enjoyed at leisure to bring out its full satisfaction and flavour.  If you eat at a leisurely pace, you’ll enjoy your food more, have less problems with your digestion and force yourself to slow down. Your health and attitude to life will lift noticeably!

Eating slowly is also one of the most successful techniques to help people lose weight. A recent US study of 30 women showed that eating slowly helped them to reduce food intake by around 275 kilojoules (66 cals) at each meal without any suffering and maximized their food satisfaction scores.

Research shows it takes 15 or 20 minutes for your stomach to signal your brain that it’s FULL, so this technique prevents you overeating without realizing it.  It’s simple. Here’s how to practice it (it helps to do it by yourself the first time):

1.  Sit down to eat and focus on the food in front of you – your goal is to savour each mouthful aiming to ‘extract’ the maximum flavour and satisfaction.

2.  Eat with a fork and knife, not your fingers.

3.  Put the fork and knife down between each bite. Have a pause halfway through the meal and ask yourself:  “How full am I now or do I need to eat more?”.

4.  Take small bites and chew well. Aim to chew each mouthful at least 5 times before you swallow.

5. While you’re retraining yourself, don’t eat in front of TV or while you read. It becomes ‘mindless eating’ and you don’t remember what you’ve eaten.

6.  Don’t eat while you walk or shop.

7.  If you have to eat at your desk at work, clear aside a small spot and have your food there, keeping a distance from your computer or paperwork.

Slow eating is one way you can take a stand against life in the fast lane. It will make you feel less stressed, more relaxed and more in tune with your body.  So make your next meal a slow meal and begin to enjoy life again.

Catherine Saxelby is a nutritionist and author of Nutrition for Life. Get more healthy eating tips at www.foodwatch.com.au