Waste not want not

My first Bokashi compost is ready! So in typical science-geek fashion I started a small experiment on our balcony this spring. One citrus tree (affectionately known as Lily the Lemon) and 3 of my tomato plants are feeding on a smorgasbord of potting mix and Bokashi compost. The lime tree (Lenny) and the other tomatoes are my control group: they get regular potting mix but no compost goodness.

Balcony ‘kitchen gardens’ are a great way to have a ready supply of fresh herbs, fruit and vegetables packed with nutrients and flavour. On my balcony in Sydney I find basil, parsley, rosemary as well as tomatoes and citrus fruit grow really well. To be more environmentally-friendly I wanted to compost our food scraps but living in an apartment this is difficult. I was thinking of setting up a worm farm but was worried that the red wigglers would pass out in the heat on our balcony in summer so I thought I'd give Bokashi a go.

So, a few months ago the Canuck fashioned some home-made composting buckets and we started our apartment Bokashi composting. Bokashi is a composting system developed in Japan for people to use in apartments. It works by adding some Bokashi mix (wheat bran with rice husks and microorganisms) each time you add food scraps to your indoor compost bucket. The microbes do their thing and ferment the food so it smells kind of vinegary but not nasty (important when it’s kept inside your apartment). After a few weeks the Bokashi and food mixture can be buried in soil. After 6 weeks in the soil all the food has broken down and it just looks like regular soil. You now have nutrient-rich soil that can be added to your potted plants.

Back to my experiment….
It’s been a month since I started my experiment and I have to say that the plants that had the compost added to their soil are jumping out of their skins. Lily the Lemon is sprouting a load of flowers and the tomato plants are twice the size of the ones that didn’t have any compost (pictured above). In the meantime we’ve reduced our rubbish by about half and I don’t have to buy fertilizer. I’m taking that as a success!

If you have a kitchen garden on your balcony I’d love to hear your handy tips on growing herbs, fruit and veg in small spaces, just leave a message below.

The Benefits of a Frequent Fibre Program

A few months ago my Aunt commented that I was too young to be eating a high fibre breakfast cereal. I guess she figured that the only people that needed high fibre were the type of 60+ oldies they show on TV ads about ‘keeping you regular’.



Fibre doesn’t seem nearly as sexy and interesting as omega-3s or antioxidants, but by starting a high fibre diet while you’re young you can actually increase your chances of staying healthier for longer. People that eat more fibre are 33% less likely to develop diabetes and 14% less likely to suffer a heart attack or stroke.

As part of my research project for my Masters degree (just finished – yay!) I reviewed the research on how fibre can help you keep a healthy weight and lower blood pressure. What I found was that people who eat a high fibre diet are less likely to put on weight. High fibre foods tend to be bulky, with lots of nutrients but not many calories (think of a big plate of vegetables). This means that they fill you up and you tend to eat less calories in total, making you less likely to put on weight.

I also found that cereal fibre can help people with high blood pressure reduce it by as much as 7mmHg, even when they are on medication. To put that in perspective that is the same effect as a low salt diet, the first change recommended by your doctor to lower blood pressure. So there are a lot of benefits to a high-fibre diet even before your 60th birthday.

How much fibre do you need?
To help prevent heart disease the Australian and other international guidelines recommend women eat 28 grams of fibre each day and men 38 grams.

Most Australians don’t eat enough fibre. The average Australian woman eats about 20g of fibre per day and the average man eats about 26g. This means that most of us could benefit from an extra 10g of fibre each day.

Not to worry, you don’t have to eat horse chaff three meals a day to get that much fibre – it’s found it lots of foods and, as always, variety is the key. Nuts, wholegrain foods, bran, legumes (kidney beans, chickpeas, lentils) all have fibre. Two serves of fruit and 5 serves of veggies also adds lots of fibre to your day.

If you think back to my wholegrain post you might remember that the bran layer of a grain has lots of fibre but this is removed when a food is refined, so by choosing wholegrain you are often choosing high fibre.

Your high fibre day might look like this:
Breakfast: A bowl of high fibre cereal (more than 3g per serve) with milk with strawberries (5 grams)
Snack: A handful of unsalted nuts (3 grams)
Lunch: Tuna and salad wholemeal sandwich with a piece of fresh fruit (10 grams)
Snack: 2 wholegrain crispbreads with low fat cream cheese (3 grams)
Dinner: 1 cup of whole wheat (brown) pasta with beef and kidney bean bolognaise sauce and a cup of mixed salad (14g)
A low-fat frozen yoghurt bar

Too much of a good thing
Before you race out and buy an extra large pack of fruit and nuts remember that it’s a good idea to gradually increase the fibre in your diet otherwise you can get a bit uncomfortable. Go for swapping one low fibre food for a high fibre option each week until you reach your goal. As always, drink plenty of water (at least 1L) and get some exercise each day. More than 40g every day can stop you from getting the calcium and iron from other foods so remember moderation and variety are the key.

Wholesome wholegrains

You may have noticed a new word cropping up more often on food packaging lately: wholegrain. So why would you choose a wholegrain food and why is it being talked about on food labels these days?



Well, first of all a quick word about food research. Our knowledge of how food affects our health is constantly improving. For example, about 25 years ago we started to realise that not all fats are the same, and we started to see a difference between saturated, monounsaturated, polyunsaturated... well, you get the idea. Today, researchers have found that with carbohydrates, the type of carbohydrates we eat may be just as important as the amount.

This recent research has shown that replacing refined grains with wholegrains decreases your risk of obesity, heart disease and diabetes. Also, the natural chemicals called phytoestrogens may protect against some cancers. On top of all that, the fibre in wholegrains helps keep you regular.

As a result of this research, guidelines in the USA suggest people eat at least half of their breads and cereals as wholegrain. Next year, the revised guidelines for Australians are also expected to recommend that people eat more wholegrains and limit refined grains.

What is a wholegrain?
Wheat, oats, corn, rice, barley and rye are all grains. These are made into foods such as bread, cereal and pasta. They are grouped together because the grains are seeds on a grass-type plant.

The grain is made of three parts: the germ, the core (endosperm) and the bran. The germ nourishes the seed with B vitamins, vitamin E and minerals as well as healthy oils and antioxidants. The inner core provides the seed with a store of carbohydrate and protein. The outside layer, the bran, protects the seed. It contains fibre as well as vitamins and minerals.

When a grain like wheat is refined to make white flour, most of the bran and some of the germ is removed to leave the core which is then ground up. People started to refine grain because by removing the oils in the germ the flour could be stored for longer, and also the bread was easier to chew and digest. Interestingly, white rice is the same in that most of the bran and germ are polished away to leave only the white rice core.

Refined flour has plenty of carbohydrate and protein for energy and growth but it has less than half the B vitamins, very little of the vitamin E or minerals (iron, magnesium and zinc) and none of the fibre or healthy fats from the original wholegrain. So it’s not really surprising that wholegrains, with all the extra nutrients, are better for your health.

Where to find wholegrains
Wholegrains can be grains you can see, like in grain bread, or they can be ground up like in wholemeal bread. Some wholegrain foods can take time to get used to because they taste a bit different and can be very filling (great for keeping a healthy weight!). It’s a good idea to add wholegrains into your diet slowly, aiming to get to at least 4 serves of wholegrains each day. The key is to swap refined grains like white bread for wholegrain foods like a grain bread.

Refined grain foods include white bread, white rice or ‘regular’ pasta, rice noodles, doughnuts, muffins, cakes

Wholegrain foods include wholemeal, rye, spelt or grain bread, brown rice, wholewheat pasta, oats, popcorn, wholewheat couscous

Some everyday ideas to swap wholegrains in and refined grains out
Breakfast
Check your breakfast cereal: is a wholegrain listed as the first ingredient?
Try porridge or muesli made with oats, or a breakfast cereal with a wholegrain as the first ingredient

Lunch
Swap your white bread sandwich to wholemeal bread or a wholegrain wrap.

Snack on a wholegrain crispbread, or wholegrain rice crackers, or snack bars with wholegrains as main ingredients (see my snack post for tips on choosing a snack)

Dinner
Try brown rice with your stir fry (it has a great nutty flavour), or make multicoloured pasta: half wholemeal half white (just remember the wholemeal takes a bit longer to cook)
Have corn on the cob instead of a potato
Experiment with some different grains every so often like wholewheat bulgur (tabouleh) or quinoa (not technically a grain but nutritionally very similar)

Got a tip on getting kids to eat more wholegrains, or a question for me? Share it below.

Young at heart

My grandmother would have been 101 years old this week. My family was lucky enough that she stayed happy and healthy until the ripe old age of 99 so that she could share her wonderful scones, a great big smile and a hug every time we visited. Having older people as a part of our lives is important in so many ways, and to make sure they stay healthy and strong as they get older they need to continue to eat well.

Caring for an older frail person
With all the talk about obesity it is hard to imagine that there is a part of our community that is malnourished, but a large number of older people are not eating well enough to stay healthy. Australian studies have found that around 1 in 10 frail older people are malnourished. Many people have the idea that it is ‘normal’ to lose weight as they get older, but actually this makes them more likely to get sick and much harder to get well again.

People also often say that they don’t need to eat as much as they get older but in fact there are some things we need more of once we’re over 70: protein to help stop muscles wasting, calcium (see my healthy bones blog entry), folate and zinc which help in healing, as well as fluid and fibre which help avoid constipation. Also, many older people that don't go outside often don't get enough Vitamin D (see a great explanation at The Scoop on Nutrition).

There are lot of different reasons why an older person may not eat enough. It might be physical, like dentures that don’t fit properly, or difficulty opening packets; it may be emotional as they don’t like eating on their own; or they may not be able to smell or taste the food so not feel like eating. All these reasons add up to eating less, in which case it is really important that the food they do eat is packed full of energy and nutrients.

Ideas to make every mouthful count
Older people often can’t eat big meals because they have a poor appetite and get full quickly. Encourage them to eat at least three meals each day and high protein snacks as well if they’re not eating big meals.

Make sure snacks have protein like cheese and crackers, English muffin with ricotta or baked beans and toast.

If chewing is difficult suggest some softer foods like casseroles, fish or eggs.

Remind them to drink between meals as older people don’t get as thirsty but still need to drink.

Encourage desserts, particularly ones with a milk base like rice pudding or crème caramel with tinned fruit.

Help older people eat with others; if you’re going to visit, take a meal and share it or go out for a meal. Encourage them to go to community centres that provide lunch at least once a week.

Make sure food is stored and reheated properly and that they remember how to use kitchen equipment like their microwave.

If you are worried that the person you are caring for is not able to prepare their own meals try some frozen meals or have food delivered by Meals on Wheels or Tender Loving Care. If someone is really not eating well, a drink-based supplement might be useful; like Sustagen or Ensure which are available at the supermarket and chemist. Two glasses in a day has the same energy and protein as a roast meal. They also provide vitamins and minerals just like a balanced meal.

Do you have any tips for helping older people eat well? Leave a comment below to share your ideas.

Grab your 'I Heart Dairy' T-shirt – it’s Healthy Bones Week!

I remember as a kid I threw myself off monkey bars in the playground and tried to convince my parents my arm was broken because I thought having a cast was cool, but apparently my bones were made of tougher stuff as I never did break a bone. This week Dairy Australia and Osteoporosis Australia are promoting us all to take some time to think about keeping our bones healthy so they don’t break when we get older.

We tend to think of bones as hard, never changing parts of our body. Actually, like some people’s houses, your bones are constantly under renovation and being rebuilt. As children, bones are built up faster than they are broken down and the bones grow. As an adult your bones stop growing but they are still constantly being broken down and rebuilt. Then, after about 45 or 50 years old the reverse starts to happen and our bones start breaking down faster than they are building up. These leads to bones becoming weak or brittle, a condition called osteoporosis. Because this is controlled by hormones osteoporosis tends to happen to women earlier and more often than men; 50% of women and 30% of men over 60 suffer from osteoporosis.

Osteoporosis is a concern because you can’t see, or feel your bones getting weak until you fall. Because the bones are brittle they break very easily. It takes a long time to recover and a lot of older people stop being able to get around and become dependent on family and friends to help them.

The good news is by eating calcium-rich foods and with regular exercise and some sunshine, you can help keep your bones stronger for longer so that you’re out playing soccer with the grandkids well into your old age!

The ‘Calcium Bank’
While many people know that calcium is one of the building blocks of bones, what they may not realize is that it’s being deposited and taken out again all the time, just like a bank account, to be used by other parts of your body. Calcium is used by your heart, muscles and nerves, so if you don’t get enough from your diet, your body will start to take some from ‘the bank’, and you may develop osteoporosis as an older adult.

It’s important to keep your ‘calcium bank’ topped up to grow and keep strong bones. Teenagers in particular need to be depositing calcium rapidly to grow bones, so it’s a concern that a recent study showed that most Australian teenagers are not getting the recommended amount of calcium*. Studies show that this can put girls in particular at risk of osteoporosis later in life.

Make a calcium deposit each day!

Australian guidelines recommend different amounts of calcium at different times in life:

Children....................... 700 mg = 3 serves of dairy or equivalent
Teenagers.....1000 –1300 mg = 3 - 4 serves
Adults........................ 1000 mg = 3 serves
Women over 51........1300 mg = 4 serves
Adults over 70...........1300 mg = 4 serves

Dairy products like milk, cheese and yoghurt have lots of calcium. If you don’t eat dairy products or are looking for more variety some alternatives are calcium-set tofu, tinned sardines or salmon (with the bones) and bok choy.

A serve might be:
a cup of (low fat) milk or fortified soy milk (skinny latte, fruit smoothie or on your cereal)
a small tub of yoghurt or rice pudding
2 slices of cheese in your sandwich or salad
1 cup bok choy
160 g tofu

Vitamin D
Vitamin D is also important for healthy bones because it helps take up calcium from our food and store it in our bones. Strangely, it’s not really a vitamin at all but a hormone made by your body and activated by sunlight on your skin. As we get older our skin is not as efficient at activating vitamin D, and without the active vitamin D our bodies don’t absorb as much calcium as when we were younger. That’s why we need more calcium than when we’re a young adult.

There has been some research results lately that show even in a sunny country like Australia people may not be getting enough Vitamin D. For a great summary of Vitamin D check out The Scoop on Nutrition post on Vitamin D.

Other things that help keep healthy bones are regular exercise, not smoking, and avoiding excess caffeine.

For some healthy bones fun for the kids visit the Dairy Australia Healthy Bones website here
*(‘Kids Eat, Kids Play’ study from 2007)

Snack your way to better health

The Canuck came home the other day with a muesli bar a company had been giving out at the train station as a promo. He suggested that since he had no idea how to tell if the bar was a good snack, maybe it would make a good blog topic. Full of great ideas that man.

Having a snack mid-morning and mid-afternoon can stop you from getting so hungry that you overeat at mealtimes. The problem is that a lot of the snacks we reach for have loads of salt or sugar, with no trace of any fibre, vitamins or minerals.

So how do you choose a great healthy snack?
Good healthy snacks include some carbohydrate, a little protein and not too much fat. Great healthy snacks have all this and more: some vitamins and minerals as a bonus.

If you’re buying a snack take a look at the nutrition information panel on the pack; it’s full of really useful information about all the nutrients in your snack. Things to look for are:

Energy - aim for less than 600kJ (143 Calories) in the serve.

Fat – go for snacks with less than 10g saturated fat per 100 grams

Sugars – try to avoid snacks with lots of added sugar. Around 20 – 30 grams of carbohydrate is enough for a good snack.

Salt (sodium) – a low salt food has less than 500mg of sodium per 100g

Other good stuff – try and have a snack that has one of these in it:

• Calcium - snack time is a great opportunity to get one of your 3 daily serves of dairy (300mg of calcium per serve)
• Fibre – snacks with fibre help to boost your fibre intake closer to the goal of 25 - 30 grams of fibre a day
• Protein – good to have some of this in your snack as protein helps keep you full for longer so will stave off the munchies until dinner time

Give these a go
Here’s a few ideas to get you started:

• One sushi roll
  
• A small tub of low-fat yoghurt or chocolate mousse (200g)
• A handful of nuts, about 15 almonds, with some sultanas or other dried fruit
• A piece of fruit – cut up and use a fork if you don’t want sticky fingers
• A piece of raisin toast or a fruit English muffin with a slice of cheese
  

These ideas will make sure you always have a healthy snack at hand:

• Take a supply of healthy snacks to work to keep in your desk drawer or in the work fridge
• Keep a couple of indestructible healthy snacks like small cereal bars or sesame snacks in your car or handbag for those times you’re hungry on the run
• Check out the dairy section at the supermarket – there are all kinds of small packs of healthy snacks out there

Sometimes the healthy option just isn’t going to cut it
The snacks with vitamins and minerals are the ones that will give you energy and keep a spring in your step so try to go for those most of the time. But when you really need a pick me up try:

6 jelly beans
A mini chocolate bar
A Paddle Pop or Skinny Cow ice cream
A snack pack of chips (30g)


To snack or not to snack
It’s normal to sometimes feel hungry between meals, especially if the last meal was a few hours ago, but make sure you are eating because you’re hungry and not out of habit, boredom or emotions. Instead try to think of other ways to help reduce stress like a brisk walk around the block or a phone call to a friend.

...and the promo muesli bar?
Well, the cereal bar The Canuck brought home matched all the tips I listed above for a good snack except it was 800kJ so a little too much energy for a snack. On the positive side, it comes in two handy bars so if you just eat one of the bars that’s only 400kJ; perfect if you save the other for later or share with a friend!

Do you have a favourite healthy snack? I love to hear new ideas so please write a comment and share your 3pm munchie solution

Diet and Diabetes Prevention

Last week was Diabetes Awareness week in Australia and it reminded me of a conversation with a friend a few years ago. He was very worried about his Mum as she had just been diagnosed with diabetes but didn’t realise that this was a signal to him. With a family member having diabetes he is at higher risk, but he could reduce his risk by making changes to his eating and exercise habits.


It’s estimated that almost one in every 13 Australians has diabetes; half of these people don’t know they have it because they have never been diagnosed. In light of that, I thought I’d give a brief overview of diabetes and the role your diet can play in prevention.


What is diabetes?

Diabetes is a condition where someone is not able to control how much glucose (sugar) is in their blood. When we eat a meal, the glucose from the carbohydrates in the meal moves through ‘doors’ into our cells where it is used to make energy. These doors are opened by the hormone insulin.

Just like the remote for your car unlocks the car doors, so insulin opens the doors in your cells to allow glucose to move into all the cells of your body. When you have diabetes, you don’t make enough insulin or it doesn’t work properly: it’s as if the batteries of your remote control are running flat, and the doors won’t open. As a result, the glucose is stuck outside your cells and sits in your bloodstream causing high ‘blood glucose levels’.

Usually the body works hard to keep your blood glucose levels in a narrow range. Too low and your brain won’t work, too high over many years and it can lead to damage to kidneys, eyes and nerves, as well as increase your chance of a heart attack or stroke. So it is important that people who have diabetes are diagnosed and make changes to help their body control the blood glucose level.

There are two main types of diabetes: Type 1 and Type 2. People with type 1 diabetes do not produce any insulin and so need to have it injected regularly. This type of diabetes is genetic and usually diagnosed in childhood, but not always. At the moment there is no way to prevent or cure type 1 diabetes.

With type 2 diabetes, which is most common, your body either doesn’t produce enough insulin for your needs, or the insulin you produce does not work properly (flat batteries in the remote). Most people with type 2 diabetes can keep their blood glucose level under control by eating well and exercising regularly, or by taking medication.


Preventing type 2 diabetes – keep those batteries charged!

If you’re over 40 or if you have people in your family with diabetes, you are more likely than other people to develop diabetes. While there’s not much you can do about your age or your genes, there are other things in your control that can make you less likely to develop diabetes. These include your weight, your blood pressure, how often you exercise, and if you smoke. In fact, up to 60% of cases of type 2 diabetes could be prevented with healthy eating habits and regular exercise.


If you are at risk of developing type 2 diabetes you can delay or prevent this by:

• Maintaining a healthy weight or if overweight, even a small weight loss will reduce your risk.
• Being active for at least 30 minutes every day (walking, swimming, bike riding...)
• Quitting smoking
• Getting a health check every year
• Eating well to give your insulin a chance!

Eating well to help prevent type 2 diabetes

Eating well and exercising to lose weight or stay a healthy weight are key to help delay or prevent type 2 diabetes. Try some of the healthy eating ideas below to help reduce your risk.

Five serves of fruit and two fruit each day can help with weight loss, lower blood pressure and help control your blood glucose levels.

Use unsaturated fats like canola margarine instead of butter and limit high fat foods

Increase the fibre in your diet slowly until you have 25 – 30 grams of fibre each day. Soluble fibre in fruit and oats slows down digestion so you don’t get lots of glucose in your blood all at once. That way the insulin can work slow and steady. Insoluble fibre, in cereals and the skin of fruit and vegetables, also helps insulin work more effectively though it is not yet known exactly how.

Use less salt in cooking and at the table as this will help to reduce high blood pressure, one of the risk factors of diabetes

Wholegrain foods can help make insulin more effective and also to help with weight loss; try to have half your grain foods as wholegrains, like wholegrain bread, breakfast cereal or crackers

Choose one low GI food with each meal. These foods break down more slowly so you don’t get lots of glucose in your blood all at once. (I’ll have a whole separate blog entry on GI soon!)

I have been focussing here on prevention of type 2 diabetes. If you have been recently diagnosed with diabetes or would like guidance on losing weight I strongly suggest you see an Accredited Practising Dietitian. For more information on the different types of diabetes and management visit the Diabetes Australia website.

The squirrels are on to something....

In honour of my namesake I have decided to start my blog off talking about the health benefits of nuts. Research has shown they can reduce the risk heart disease and help weight control, all while being delicious!



Good for your heart
Nuts are high in fat, but it’s mostly the good fats – the ones that help reduce risk of heart disease. (I’ll tackle what are ‘good fats’ vs ‘bad fats’ in a future blog entry.)

Research suggests that eating a small handful of raw or dry roasted and unsalted nuts (30g) five times a week can help to lower blood cholesterol by ten percent. Why? The action of the good fats in nuts: polyunsaturated fats and monounsaturated fats.

Good for weight loss
As part of a healthy, balanced diet a small handful of nuts have also been found to help weight control. The protein and fibre in nuts slows down your digestion and so stops you from getting hungry again soon. The fats also help by sending signals that you are full. Eating an afternoon snack of nuts means you are less likely to get hungry and overeat later in the day.

Which nut?
Almonds, cashews, macadamias, Brazil nuts, pistachios, pine nuts and walnuts are all good choices; just remember to go for raw or roasted, unsalted nuts.

How much of a good thing?
My husband (The Canuck) came home a couple of weeks ago and announced that he was going to start eating 67 grams of nuts every day. He had read an article that claimed this was the magic amount needed to reduce risk of heart disease. Now, this is all well and good, but 67 grams of nuts is a lot of energy for an afternoon snack: almost the same amount of energy as a full meal!

So yes, you can have too much of a good thing. Due to the high fat content, nuts do pack a good punch in terms of calories. A small handful is about 30 grams, which is an appropriate amount of calories for a snack. Any more than this and you are adding extra calories to your daily intake and risk weight gain. So, remember to replace your afternoon chocolate bar or biscuit with a handful of nuts rather than adding nuts as an extra.

The Canuck is working on a handy 30 gram daily nut dispenser as we speak, stay tuned.

Accredited Practicing Dietitians

An Accredited Practicing Dietitian (APD) is the title earned by a food and nutrition expert in Australia who has completed a University qualification in dietetics that is accredited by the Dietitians Association of Australia, and who has made a commitment to continued professional development in nutrition.

Accredited Practicing Dietitians work in the treatment and prevention of disease, in hospitals as part of medical teams, as well as in private practice, aged care or other health care facilities. APDs also work in community and public health settings, food industry, journalism, sports nutrition, and corporate wellness programs.

For expert advice on dietary choices for your individual lifestyle and health condition, you can find an APD near you by visiting the DAA website here.