Ask a Nutritionist
Coffee or Decaf, which is best?
If you are caffeine sensitive, pregnant or trying to conceive, then decaf coffee is best. Some studies have linked consumption of caffeine exceeding 300mg per day to infertility or a higher risk of miscarriage. Caffeine is a completely natural compound found in a variety of plants, so if you are pregnant, breastfeeding or having fertility problems you will be advised to limit your caffeine intake to 200 mgs per day or less. A regular brewed coffee contains between 95 mg and 200mg of caffeine.
The rest of us can relax. A moderate amount of coffee (3-4 cups a day) or 300 – 400 mg of caffeine a day is OK, in fact there is some evidence that caffeine actually provides health benefits. Some people may be more vulnerable to the effects of caffeine, the elderly, people with hypertension, adolescents and children.
Whether your coffee is decaf or not, watch the addition of milk and sugar. Even if your latte is made with trim milk, two a day adds up to 320 extra calories. Switch for a long black or glass of water and you’ll lose 14 kilos over a year. It will take you 45 minutes of intensive cardio on a cross-trainer or a 90-minute walk to burn off those 320 calories. Considering most of us want to burn fat when exercising, it would pay not to load our blood stream with lattes. If you have weight to lose, check the calories in all of your drinks.
Please help I am the heaviest I've ever been
I am a 41 yr old mum of four kids under 12 yrs, and weigh 110kg, the biggest I have ever been in my life. Although naturally fit for most of my life for the last 12 yrs I have added extra pounds through the pregnancies and stress from working in a full time high pressure job. There was one stage in the last 12 yrs where before child number four came along I had increased my exercise and used good nutrition to regain my health and fitness dropping back to 72 kgs (my normal weight). I now have a low pressured job and the youngest is 3 yrs old, however as much as I tell myself I need to lose weight for all the right reasons namely my health, I just cant sustain any form of diet for more than 2 days before losing motivation again. I've tried nearly everything and admittedly feel battered, down but hopefully not out. Any suggestions much appreciated.
Delilah
Being a mum is one of the toughest jobs in the world, you are a chef, a taxi-driver, a counsellor and a cleaner (that’s just for starters). Did you know that each pregnancy puts a huge stress on your body’s nutrient requirements? With four children to care for and a full-time job, the last thing you get to care about is your own health, so in effect you body never really recovers from the nutrient depletion of pregnancy.
You have good reason to lose weight but throwing yourself on a strict diet is the last thing you want to do. Diets fail us for a number of reasons. When the human body is faced with a shortage of nutrients, its survival response is to conserve fat. Let me define the word “Diet” for you, a diet is a temporary severe restriction of food or calories. Most diet programs call for extremely low calories of 800-1200. When you cut your calories drastically like this you lose weight, simple! But there’s a problem with this, the weight loss almost never lasts, 95% of dieters can’t keep the weight off, secondly, most of the weight loss has occurred through loss of lean muscle or lean structure, so you end up fatter in the long run. Having a coach in the short term can help you discover where you can make some lasting changes with your eating habits that are enjoyable and easy. Healthy eating can be a whole family affair. Instead of thinking that you need to starve yourself or exercise vigorously every day, start keeping a food diary to find out where you can make some changes. Visit a nutritionist and arm yourself with a good book, I recommend ‘Real Weight Loss’ by Dr Doug Sellman. You’ll find having a regular meeting with a nutritionist really valuable, kind of like putting yourself first for once.
Jacquie Dale www.realnutrition.co.nz
Help me lose weight for my wedding
I’d really like to lose weight as fast as possible for a wedding. How much weight can I lose quickly? I’ve read that some people lose up to 8 kilos in 4 weeks on diets, is this true?
When we lose weight we not only lose fat, we lose a combination of fat, muscle tissue and water. While it may be true that some dieters are able to lose up to 4 kilos in a week the weight loss will be temporary as most of the reduction will come from carbohydrate and water losses. The human body is designed for survival and dieting by severely reducing your calorie intake can trigger your brain to reduce your metabolism and increase your appetite. This is why most dieters regain their lost weight within a year. A low calorie diet will make it impossible for you to consume the 50 or more nutrients your body needs to function each day.
Bottom Line
The real purpose of dieting is to dispose of fat not muscle, so gradual weight loss of less than 1 kilo per week will give you a better chance of success in the long run.
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Should I be counting calories?
For weight loss is counting calories the way to go. How many for a woman? Also is carbohydrate, protein and fat ratio a good idea too ? 60/40/20 or 40/40/20. Thanking you Glenda
Hi Glenda
As a general rule don't take calories below 1400 per day. It's best to have your body composition measured or calculated so that you can find out where your starting point is. For example if you have 50 kilos of lean mass and weigh 82 kilos, you need to consume at least 1540 calories per day so that your body does not perceive starvation. Plus you need to provide all nutrients. Remember that the goal is fat loss not muscle or water loss. Calories are mostly important, followed by food quality next then balance (which is the ratio). What is more important is that your diet provides all of the 50+ vitamins and minerals and amino acids and essential fats and fibre.The exact ratio of fats carbs and protein is totally individual and goal dependent. How many calories you need depends on your body composition, your weight, your health history and your activity level and goals. This is why diets don't work, the media try to come up with rules - without knowing some body's starting point - lean mass, fat percentage, health conditions, eating history - everything else is just guess work. Fad diets are way too low in calories. Hope this information helps.
Why Am I So Hungry?
Hi Jacquie, Please help with some advice. I am dieting - well, not dieting but trying to eat better. I am cutting out junk and attempting to reduce portion size. My problem is I get very hungry! It probably doesn't help that I am a vegetarian as protein, I am told, fills you up. But this is ridiculous I have breakfast and I am still hungry, 30 minutes later I am still hungry. And breakfast is porridge, small amount of brown sugar, trim milk and a banana. Dinner times are just as bad - I have a big plate and the hungry feeling goes away for all of 5 minutes. The meal was peas, carrots, potato, spaghetti squash casserole with cheese and cottage cheese. I often wake in the night hungry and since I stopped eating until I felt full 2 weeks ago, I feel empty most of the time. I even wondered if I was diabetic? Any words of advice? K
This could mean one of two things, either you are not eating enough or you have reduced your food intake too fast. You say that only two weeks ago you were eating until you were full so I suspect your stomach is telling you it's not happy with the new restricted diet. Hunger is the enemy to weight loss, a healthy diet needs to be enjoyable, emotion free and fulfilling. Eating five to six smaller meals over the day may help you with appetite control. Protein does rule when it comes to satiety, but if you are not eating enough calories, fibre, protein or good fats you will still be hungry. Many women think that to lose weight they need to experience hunger, but this is far from the truth. A Dietitian or Nutritionist will help you achieve a healthy diet that doesn't leave you hungry.
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Lose Weight For Netball
I’m currently sitting on (178cms) 79kgs and I want to streamline down to about 73kgs for netball. Currently I am training at least an hour a day, I suppose my worst habits are the sweets, bit of chocolate here and there! I am good with portion control and try to eat gluten free but I get really hungry at the 3.30 pm mark at work, its super hard to fight. I would just like to hear your expertise for someone like me, who hates being told I can’t eat something it makes me crave!!! Also, when I start to love the sight, taste and smell of chocolate its in sync with my women’s cycle, if you know what I mean. I would like some advice on what methods I can use when the hungriness takes over.
Hi Ebony. Hunger is the enemy of any successful weight loss plan. For starters I’d avoid any weight loss regime that prevented you from eating your favourite foods in the first place. Dieting has earned a bad reputation because many of us associate dieting with deprivation and starvation. The opposite is true. Sustainable weight loss means developing a way of eating that is enjoyable! Because you are exercising there is definitely room for chocolate in your diet. So instead of treating chocolate as a ‘guilt’ food you should give it a place within your food plan.
The key to success is working out how many calories you should be eating to achieve you goal, my guess is that you are under eating at the most important times of the day. Based on your activity levels and weight you require 1600 – 2200 calories daily to achieve a loss of .500 grams to 1 kilo per week. Then divide those calories up over 5 to 6 meals, eating more calories when you need them and less when you don’t. I have a rule called the 80/20 rule. Aim for 80% of your diet to consist of complex carbohydrates,
lean protein, vegetables and fruit. If 80% of your diet is fantastic, then 20% can be whatever you feel like.
For example, 20% of 2200 calories is 440 calories per day – that’s a 50 gram chocolate bar and a glass of wine! Another thing, if you are reducing your calories to lose fat –
take a multivitamin, a lack of vitamins and minerals can worsen
PMT symptoms and increase those cravings. A good supplementation program can help support appetite.
How relevant are food pyramids these days? I can’t figure out what the accepted guidelines are any more – there’s the Mediterranean food pyramid and then the one from school. I’m confused.
Many nutrition experts find the traditional food pyramid simplistic and out of date. The biggest problem with the old food pyramid is that it doesn’t take into account the fact that some fats are healthy and some carbohydrates are unhealthy. It also doesn’t take into account healthy activity or fitness. We are eating a very different diet these days, so it would be difficult to determine where some common foods such a muesli bar would rank on a pyramid. Personally, I prefer the Harvard School of Public Health’s version of a new food pyramid. Its foundation is daily exercise and weight control, since these two related elements strongly influence your chances of staying healthy. It also promotes a plant based diet, whole grains, good protein choices and sensible supplementation. Dr. Willett, the author from Harvard School of Public Health says that the same healthy diet could work for everyone and is confident that his Healthy Eating Pyramid is the most accurate general pyramid yet issued. He hopes that the USDA will eventually take action to update the Food Guide Pyramid. "They will have to recognise critical differences in carbohydrates, fats, and protein sources," he says. "Unfortunately, there's a huge amount of inertia. Committees have been saying 'no fat' for so long, it's hard for them to change." You can view the new pyramid here. www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource
I eat a lot of fruit and always believed it was good for me. However friends at work have warned me it is full of sugar and I should limit my intake. How much is too much fruit? I especially love bananas, but I've been told they're the worst of the lot. Is this true?
Jenny Marsh
Are these the same friends who drink wine every night, but won’t eat an apple, because an apple got carbs? I have a tip for you. Don’t listen to dietary advice from workmates. You can gain weight eating too much of anything, not just fruit. Fruit is an essential part of a healthy diet. Aim to eat three serves of fruit per day, but that’s a general guideline. Individual needs are based on things like age, activity levels and health goals. Choosing a banana for a mid afternoon pick-me-up could save you money and help you lose weight. Australian accredited dietician, Glenn Cardwell says that bananas represent fantastic value in terms of their nutrition. Compared with most other snack foods, bananas have fewer kilojoules, zero fat and no salt. They deliver vitamins B6 and C, folate and fibre. Replacing your mid afternoon muffin with a banana could save you more than 9000 kilojoules per week. You’d have to walk for eight hours to burn off 9000 kilojoules.
