Hot off the press: Latest news from your local Chippie

I’m in Western Australia this week visiting my home town of Perth and discovered yesterday a clever healthy option for fast food snacks: Fit Chips.

Nutritionists recommend that hot potato chips are only eaten sometimes because they are high in fat and calories. So, two Mums in Perth set about to make a healthier alternative by using canola oil and specialised ovens that blast the chips with hot air instead of deep-frying them.

Fit Chips make a healthier alternative to the regular chip because they have 35% less calories and less than half the fat of regular chips, either from a take-away shop or the frozen ones from the supermarket.

Also, because they’re made with canola oil they have only a quater of the saturated fat of regular chips which makes them a good choice for people looking after their heart health (that’s all of us, right?). Fit Chips also have alternative shaker toppings so you can reduce the amount of salt. As a low-salt alternative you can choose salt-free shakes of cracked pepper or red chilli flakes.

Even though Fit Chips are lower in fat, calories and salt, it is still a good idea to have them only sometimes. If you’re looking for healthier everyday snack ideas check out my post on healthy snacking.

Find out more at http://www.fitchips.com.au/

Fit chips

Proof: Dietitians do indulge

On a recent weekend away in celebration of the shortest day of the year here in the Southern hemisphere we had a 'Dark Days Dinner'. I thought I'd share with you the recovery breakfast to prove that dietitians (there were 3 of us on this getaway) do indulge occasionally.

The Canuck explains how to prepare the Edinburgh-inspired French toast, bacon and brie breakfast.



Note: I did have to run inside to the fridge to grab the whipped cream just to make the dish complete! (as part of a balanced diet)

Pumping up on Protein

With all the training we’ve been doing lately for our Dragonboat National Titles I noticed some of our team mates have been using the supplements from those giant tins you see in the supplement stores. As an amateur sportsperson maybe you’ve used them. But how do you know if you need protein supplements?

While a meal replacement that contains carbohydrate and other nutrients as well as protein can be part of a well-balanced diet when you’re training, it’s a good idea to know how much protein you need to eat so that you’re not wasting time and money pumping up on unnecessary extra protein.

Protein – what’s it good for?
Protein foods are an important part of everyone’s diet because they are used by the body to make a whole range of metabolic essentials like hormones and immune cells as well as muscle cells.

The more exercise you get, the more protein you need in your diet. This is because the protein is used to fuel exercise and to help repair and grow muscle after exercise. If you exercise regularly you’ll need around 1g of protein each day per kilo of body weight. Athletes need more protein, between 1.2 and 2.0g per kilo.

So a 85kg (187 pound) man exercising regularly will need 85g of protein but if he took up athletic level training he may need between 102 – 170g of protein each day. Most athletes eat more when they are in training and it has been shown that they actually eat enough protein-rich foods to get the extra protein they need with 3 meals and snacks each day.

Eating enough protein for athletic training doesn’t mean eating steak 4 times a day. Other foods that are good sources of protein include milk, yoghurt and cheese, eggs, nuts and legumes (baked beans, lentils, kidney beans, tofu). Cereal based foods like bread, pasta and breakfast cereal all contain some protein as well.

A typical day for our 85kg athlete in training might look like this:
Pre training snack: Glass of low fat milk ............... 10g
Breakfast:
2 cups cereal with low fat milk .............................. 15g
2 pieces of wholegrain toast with jam .....................10g
Snack: Banana smoothie with yoghurt ....................15g
Lunch: Ham, cheese and salad roll ........................ 30g
Snack: Chocolate milk & Cereal bar........................ 17g
Post triaining snack: Mixed nuts & sports drink ........12g
Dinner:
Beef, veg and kidney bean bolognaise sauce.............30g
2 cups pasta ...................................................... 10g
Apple crumble with low fat custard ......................... 9g

Total 158g protein (1.85g / kg)

Before you mix up that ‘Mega-supa-muscle-enhancing shake’ providing large amounts of protein just remember that eating any more protein than 2g/kg/day will not build new muscle tissue. Your body will just use the extra protein for energy and you may be eating so much protein you miss out on other important nutrients. Protein-rich foods provide a range of nutrients not found in supplements including vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals and antioxidants.



Reducing the aches and pains after training
If you are training for an event, timing when you eat is as important as how much you eat. To help fuel exercise and aid recovery, eat a carbohydrate snack with 10-20g of protein before and after (within 15 – 60 minutes) training sessions.

Some examples of snacks for pre and post training:

• 375mL low-fat chocolate milk and a banana (14g protein)
• Small tub of yogurt and fruit (11g protein)
• Peanut butter and jam wholegrain sandwich (14g protein)
• 60g mixed nuts and dried fruit (12g protein)

So, do I need a supplement?
You don't need a supplement to get enough protein. However, if you like the convenience of a liquid snack, choose a meal replacement that has both carbohydrate and protein as well as some vitamins and minerals, particularly calcium.


If you are training for an event and would like more advice on maximizing the benefit of the foods you eat during training and competition, contact a sports dietitian. Contacts can be found on my links page. Good luck!

How much is that burger in the window?

A few weeks ago on a road trip after a weekend Dragonboat regatta in the country the only food available was a fast food chain. My friend looked guiltily at me and said “I guess you won’t be able to eat anything” as if the mere sight of fast food would cause me to go into some sort of fit requiring a dash to the nearest hospital. You’ll all be happy to know that I do eat fast food sometimes and survive to tell the tale!

Like a lot of dietitians I love to cook, but it’s not always possible to cook a meal at home and fast food is a convenient option. For a healhty diet it’s best to limit your visits to fast food places to once a week or less. Smart choices at the counter can also make a big difference. As of February this year people in New South Wales (the state in Australia where I live) will start to see more information that will help them make that choice. New laws have just been passed so that by February 2012 all large fast food chains will have to show the kilojoule content of all food on the menu. Those of you in many places around the world have had this for some time.

So what do the numbers mean?
The kilojoule (kJ) content of a meal is the amount of energy the food provides. Kilojoules are the metric equivalent of calories and one Calorie is equal to almost 4.2 kilojoules. It’s hard to know how many kilojoules are in a meal just by looking at it so lablelling a menu can help. For example a small hamburger is around 1000 kJ while the larger ones can be 3000kJ. A muffin can be anywhere from 500kj to 2000kJ.

The 2-7-2 Guide
When you're looking at the menu kilojoules on the menu, how do you make a choice? Try the 2-7-2 guide: 2,000kJ for each meal and 700kJ for each snack. This way 3 meals and 3 snacks roughly adds up to the average adult daily intake of 8700kJ. Remember this includes drinks like coffee, alcohol and soft drinks (soda).

So when you're standing at the counter making your order a good choice is one that will provide around 2,000kJ including the drink. Then you can enjoy your meal knowing you've made a healthier choice.

At this stage the labelling in NSW is only energy but it may soon also include fat and salt content as is the case in some places around the world. In this case choose foods lower in fat and salt if possible.

How much do you need?
We all need energy from food but how much you need everyday depends on individual differences including your age, gender, how active you are and your weight. So it makes sense that we might need more or less than the average 8700kJ. An active 30 year-old man would need more than his 70 year old gran who walks to the shops each day.

As a rough guide the kilojoule values below give a idea of the amount of energy you need each day. The lower values are for people that don’t get much exercise each day. The higher values are for people that work in very physical jobs or do sports training for many hours each day. If you get at least 30 minutes of exercise each day you are likely to fall somewhere in between these values.

Women under 60 years need between 8,000kJ and 10,000kJ
Women over 60 need between 6,000 and 9,000kJ

Men under 60 need between 10,000 and 15,000kJ
Men over 60 need between 8,000 and 12,500kJ

These values are just a guide. For a closer estimate of the kilojoules you need each day try this online tool or talk to an Accredited Practising Dietitian.

If you live in an area that has been labeling fast food menus for some time I’d love to hear about if it has changed the choices you make.

Healthy habits here we come!

Happy New Year! The Canuck has decided that this year is ‘the year of tennis’ for the two of us and 10 days into 2011 he’s already booked us in for a social tennis group on Saturdays at a club up the road. I’m thinking that after a Christmas of home-baked goodness a lot of us are making some similar changes in an effort to shed the extra kilos.


Aim for healthy habits rather than crash diets

As the saying goes, every journey starts with the very first step. So, if you are aiming to lose some weight, rather than ‘going on a diet’ and radically changing what you eat, try to think of a small change that you can make today and keep doing until it becomes a healthy habit. By aiming for healthy habits you are more likely to make changes that will last and be better for your health as well as your waistline. If you are trying to cut down on fat then start today by swapping to a reduced fat milk today. Try doing that every day for a week or two and before you know it you’ll be choosing low fat milk at the supermarket without thinking (low fat dairy products are recommended for all the family over 2 years old).

I have to mention here that after reading my previous blog post on whole grains my friend Pren has done exactly this and now has a healthy habit of choosing grain bread rather than white. So it can be done!

Losing the extra ‘fruit mince pie kilos’

It's not rocket science: most of us know it comes down to fewer calories in and getting more physically active; but that’s easier said than done sometimes!

If you can find a couple of small things you could change that would reduce your total intake by 500 calories each day you would be on the way to steady weight loss. You don’t need to count every calorie of every food you eat, just make one or two changes as a start.

Some places that you might find that 500 calories lurking:
A café muffin 500 calories
A large flat white coffee or latte 220 calories
A 50g (small) pack of chips (crisps) 250 calories
A can of soft drink (soda) 150 calories
Two chocolate biscuits 200 calories
A 55g chocolate bar 250 – 300 calories
1 glass of wine 150 calories

So if you swapped your breakfast of a regular flat white coffee and muffin to a skinny flat white and piece of fruit toast and had water rather than a soft drink you’d be having 500 calories less each day.

Vegetables are packed with nutrients without excess calories so another way to cut back on calories without getting hungry is to eat plenty of veggies. At meals, aim for your plate to be ¼ lean meat or other protein, ¼ carbohydrate and ½ vegetables of different colours for a variety of nutrients.

Remember to be realistic about your weight loss. The most effective way to lose weight and keep it off is slowly and steadily. By aiming for half a kilo each week (about a pound a week) you’re being realistic and are more likely to stick to those healthy habits.

One of the biggest intervention studies ever conducted in nutrition recently found that the most effective eating pattern for keeping off the extra kilos once you’ve lost weight was eating a little more protein and choosing lower glycaemic index foods (like grain bread instead of white and sweet potatoes rather than white potatoes).

Move that body

Another great healthy habit to pick up in the New Year is adding in a little more physical activity. People that lose weight and keep it off are most often the ones that get 60 minutes of exercise each day, including walking to train station, walking home with the kids after school or meeting a friend for a bike ride before you go for coffee (or, like the Canuck, joining a local social tennis group). Why not get 20 minutes exercise tomorrow work your way up to 60 minutes by March?

If you are in Australia, look out for Healthy Weight Week activities January 23 - 30, 2010. For individual advice on weight loss make an appointment to see an Accredited Practising Dietitian

If you have a healthy habit goal for 2011 post a comment below to let me know how it's working out.