diet – Hello Doctor

Banting Christmas lunch

December 14th, 2020 by The Hello Doctor Team

If this is your first holiday as a banter, or you’re having LCHF guests over for Christmas lunch, you might be wondering where to begin. Here are some suggestions on how to make it a fabulous and stress-free day.

When it comes to LCHF, it’s all in the name – low carbs and high fat means much less starch and more proteins and healthy fats. For traditional holiday fare, this means no floury gravies and stuffing, or sugary cakes and desserts. Your roasted chicken or turkey is great for banting, simply replace a bread-based stuffing with sausage-based one. When it comes to gammon, avoid recipes that include sugar-rich glazes, and substitute roast potatoes with sweet potatoes. We’ve included a delicious broccoli and cauliflower bake recipe as a side-dish option.

What’s for Dessert?

To make sure your banters don’t feel short-changed after the main course, put together a fruit, nut and cheese-board that you can keep chilled and serve after lunch – you’ll probably find non-banters treating themselves to these goodies. For your cheese-board, think of including any combination of the following:

Any full-cream cheese: Brie, Camembert, Edam, blue cheeses – whatever is to your taste.
Fresh fruits that stay firm and don’t colour: blueberries, cherries, strawberries, figs, raspberries, gooseberries, watermelon cubes, and kiwi fruit slices.
Nuts, such as toasted almonds and cashews.
You can include a bowl of delicious full-cream yoghurt or cream flavoured with some fresh vanilla and a little honey.

Bon appetite!

Three low-carb pasta replacement recipes

October 19th, 2020 by The Hello Doctor Team

There are many low-carb alternatives to pasta like fresh vegetables and popular fibre-rich noodle replacements. These not only contain fewer carbs but have higher levels of vitamins, minerals and other beneficial nutritional compounds than traditional pasta.

Give these recipes a go for a punch of tasty and healthy goodness.

Cheesy bacon spaghetti squash

Ingredients

1 large spaghetti squash (also known as calabash squash)
4 bacon strips, chopped
3 tbsp butter
1 tbsp brown sugar
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
½ cup shredded Swiss cheese

Method

Halve squash lengthwise and discard seeds. Place squash on a microwave-safe plate, cut side down; microwave until tender for 15-20 minutes. Cool slightly. Separate strands with a fork.
In a large pan, cook bacon over medium heat until crisp, stirring occasionally. With a slotted spoon, place bacon on paper towels; reserve drippings.
In the same pan, heat drippings over medium heat; stir in butter, brown sugar, salt and pepper until blended. Add squash, toss and heat through. Remove from heat; stir in cheese. Top with bacon.

Zucchini noodles with pesto & chicken

Ingredients

4 medium-large zucchinis, trimmed
¾ tsp salt, divided
2 cups packed fresh basil leaves
¼ cup pine nuts, toasted
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
¼ cup plus 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, divided
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 large clove garlic, quartered
½ tsp ground pepper
4-5 tbsp pesto (to taste)
500g boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into pieces

Method

Using a spiral vegetable slicer, cut zucchini lengthwise into long, thin strands. Give the strands a chop here and there so the noodles aren’t too long. Place the zucchini in a colander and toss with ¼ teaspoon salt. Drain for 15 to 30 minutes, then gently squeeze to remove any excess liquid.
Meanwhile, place basil, pine nuts, parmesan, ¼ cup oil, lemon juice, garlic, pepper and ¼ teaspoon salt in a mini food processor. Process until almost smooth.
Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. Add chicken in one layer; sprinkle with the remaining ¼ teaspoon salt. Cook, stirring, until just cooked through, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl and stir in 3 tablespoons of the pesto.
Add the remaining 1 tablespoon oil to the pan. Add the drained zucchini noodles and toss gently until hot, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer to the bowl with the chicken. Add the remaining pesto and toss gently to coat.

Chicken stir-fry with carrot noodles

Ingredients

200g chicken breast, cubed
½ cup coconut milk
pepper
1 tbsp coconut oil
1½ tsp fresh ginger, minced
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cardamom
1½ cups broccoli, cut into bite-sized florets
1 large carrot, spiralised
½ tsp sea salt
coriander, for garnish

Method

Place the cubed chicken breast in a medium bowl. Add the coconut milk. Sprinkle a pinch of salt and pepper and stir until the chicken is covered. Refrigerate for at least 20 minutes.
Heat the oil in frying pan over medium/high heat. Add the ginger, cumin, coriander and cardamom and cook until golden brown and fragrant, only for about 20 seconds.
Place the chicken cubes one at a time, lightly shaking off an excess coconut milk (but still leaving the cubes coated in some milk) into the pan, reserving the leftover coconut milk for later. Cook until it’s well done, for about 4-5 minutes.
Add in the broccoli florets and cook for 1 minute. Then, reduce the heat to medium and add in the carrot noodles and salt. Cook, stirring frequently, until the carrot noodles are tender, about 4 minutes.
Stir in the remaining coconut milk, cook for 30 seconds and remove from heat.
Garnish with coriander and enjoy.

References:

How your body creates its own drugs

March 19th, 2019 by The Hello Doctor Team

Ever notice how good you feel after eating a piece of chocolate? How about that “high” after a great workout? It turns out, your body can create hormones that work just like drugs – only better. There are four key hormones responsible for this natural high:

dopamine
serotonin
oxytocin
endorphins.

These are all neurotransmitters, which means they work directly on and within the brain to generate those good vibes.

How hormones pump up the happiness

Endorphins are made by the pituitary gland (a tiny organ found at the base of the brain) and the central nervous system. They’re released in response to stress, discomfort or pain and their main function is to reduce these negative feelings and boost positive ones. For example, during pregnancy, they minimise discomfort and increase feelings of relief and wellbeing. They are also released during pleasant activities like eating, sex and exercise.

Once those endorphins are out, they interact with opiate receptors in the brain. These receptors send signals to your brain to block pain and help calm you down. Endorphins bring on a similar effect to morphine, an opiate drug pain reliever.

But unlike morphine, endorphins don’t lead to addiction or dependence. This makes endorphins a better, safer and more natural option for pain relief.

Up your happiness the natural way

It’s important to regulate neurochemical levels. Very low levels affect the way your brain functions, your mood, behaviour, learning, movement and even sleep. Here are ways to naturally increase and regulate yours:

1. Toss out sugar

Reaching for sweet treats offers instant comfort, but you pay the price. Sugar gives you a temporary high, but it wreaks havoc on your natural dopamine release mechanism. When you regularly have sugar, over time, the natural action that releases dopamine is inhibited. Instead, dopamine levels are lowered in response to repeated high levels of sugar in the body. Eventually, your brain becomes tolerant to sugar and you need more and more to reach the same “high” that dopamine would have given you. Soon, dopamine levels become so low that sugar becomes an addiction as it becomes associated with pleasure.

2. Stick to a healthy schedule

Nothing drains dopamine levels like an erratic schedule. It’s important to find a healthy routine and stick to it. A schedule means less stress because you’ll always feel prepared. Include enough time for work, rest, regular exercise and healthy meals. Get at least seven to nine hours of sleep every evening to help your brain recuperate and maintain a good store of neurotransmitters.

3. Bulk up on protein

Protein is a powerful nutrient that’s made up of amino acids. An amino acid, called tyrosine, plays a critical role in the production of dopamine. Natural enzymes found in your body can make dopamine from tyrosine. Another amino acid, called phenylalanine, can be used to produce tyrosine and as a result, dopamine. Unfortunately, your body can’t make its own tyrosine and phenylalanine, so you’ll have to get it from foods or a supplement. Regulate and maximise your levels with protein-rich foods like eggs, dairy, soy, lean meats, seeds and nuts. Snack on bananas too as they’re packed with high levels of tyrosine.

References

How to lose weight and not gain it back

January 23rd, 2019 by The Hello Doctor Team

Dropping five kilos with a crash diet for your upcoming date sounds like a good idea – but it’s not! Everyone loves a quick fix (particularly when it comes to shedding weight). But, quick weight loss is bad for your health and it’s also unsustainable.

Slow and steady wins the race

Implementing drastic changes makes you feel good because it gives you hope and a sense of achievement. In the long run though, if your goals are too radical, you won’t be able to keep up. You might get to a point where you revert to bad habits.

For example, if you cut out all the junk food you love in one go, you’re bound to binge eventually. This is called “counter-regulatory eating” which happens if you severely restrict yourself. It creates an all-or-nothing mindset where all is well only if you’re following the rules.

And if you break one rule, you adopt a “What the heck!?” attitude and break them all. This takes you right back to where you started.

Why crash diets fail you

Losing weight rapidly comes with various health risks including nausea, fatigue and an upset stomach. It also increases your risk of rebound weight gain. Here are some of the main factors to consider, before you sign-up for the next ‘6 weeks to slim’ diet:

1. You’re probably not just losing fat

A healthy rate of weight loss means dropping between a half to one kilo per week. If you lose more, you might burn water or muscle because your body finds it difficult to burn large numbers of fat calories in a short amount of time.

2. Your fluids become unbalanced

Electrolytes are chemicals that help your muscles contract and helps your heart beat properly. When you lose weight too fast, most of it is water. Losing too much water weight disrupts the balance of electrolytes, like minerals. This wreaks havoc on your body because it won’t have the electrolytes needed to function properly.

3. There are side-effects

In some cases, losing weight too quickly causes dehydration, gallstones, malnutrition and an imbalance of electrolytes. Headaches, constipation, dizziness, irregular periods, muscle and hair loss and fatigue are other possible consequences.

4. Your metabolism dips

Rapid weight loss kicks your body kick into survival mode. This also means some of your body’s systems, including your metabolism slow down to use less energy. A slow metabolism burns fewer calories a day and makes it easier for you to gain weight while eating less food.

How to lose weight steadily and healthily

Research by Drexel University found that people whose weight fluctuated in the first few months of trying to lose weight, lost less weight in the long run, compared to those with consistent week-by-week progress. Here’s how to lose weight and keep it off.

1. Set a realistic goal

Don’t pressure yourself to lose 20 kilos a month. A good rule of thumb is to try and lose five to 10% of your body weight over six months and between half a kilo and one kilo a week. Aim for steady weight loss.

2. Get real

Stop aiming for perfection and go for sustainable and manageable instead. The 80/20 rule is a good place to start. About 80% of the food in your diet comes from whole foods and the leftover 20% can be treats. This works well because you aren’t depriving yourself of any food, so it’s easy to maintain. You can eat your fruits and veggies and have a small slice of cake too. Try the 90/10 rule once you’re comfortable.

3. Keep it simple

From Banting to intermittent fasting, search “weight loss plans” on the Internet and you’ll be overwhelmed with options. And when you’re overwhelmed, you’re likely to throw in the towel. Don’t overthink your weight loss journey. Research, pick a plan and try to stick with it. If you aren’t happy, change it. Ask a dietician, doctor or a personal trainer for help when you’re starting.

4. Write it down

When you commit something to paper, you’re holding yourself accountable. Every day, write down whatever you’ve eaten, including snacks and drinks. Also include the amount and kind of exercises you’ve done for the day. You’ll be surprised to find how unplanned treats or sugary drinks have crept their way into your diet. This also helps you to find and eliminate those habits that could be holding you back. You don’t have to do this forever. Doing it at when you start out will help you identify your weight loss wreckers.

5. Get moving

Your diet alone won’t help you lose weight. Aim for at least 150 minutes of moderate physical activity each week. For example, brisk walking. When you’re starting out, don’t push yourself to do it all in one go. Start with three sets of 10-minute workouts each day.

References:

Which type of rice is the healthiest?

August 10th, 2018 by The Hello Doctor Team

Today, rice competes with trendy gluten-free grains like quinoa and amaranth. But let’s face it, nothing beats a steaming plate of fluffy rice as a side or main dish.

What makes this humble grain even better, is that there’s a variety of different rice to suit any taste and dietary need. Let’s take a look to see which rice you should be plating up.

Brown rice

This hearty, nutty-flavoured rice boasts many nutritional benefits because it contains germ and bran layers. These layers hold important nutrients like Vitamin B, magnesium and phosphorus that help build healthy bones. There’s also about 5g of fibre in one cup of brown rice – good news if you have digestion problems. It’s also a great way to help reduce insulin spikes as it has a low glycaemic rating.
Nutritional value in one cup: 216 calories, 45g carbohydrates, 5g protein, 1.8g fat, 3.5g fibre

Black rice

Also known as the “forbidden rice”, black rice has a deep black or purple colour (similar to some berries) which shows that it’s high in antioxidants. It has a sweet, nutty taste and a chewy texture. The bran hull of this super rice contains one of the highest levels of anthocyanin antioxidant found in any known food. It also has important fibres, plant-based protein and iron.
Nutritional value in one cup:160 calories, 34g carbohydrates, 5g protein, 2g of dietary fibre, 2g fat

Sprouted rice

If you’re looking for an immune booster, sprouted rice is the grain for you. Also known as germinated brown rice, sprouted rice is one of the healthiest grains. This superstar is packed with fibre and vitamins. Sprouted grains have partially started their growth process and thereafter, the growth enzymes are deactivated. This means that its nutrients (Vitamin C, Vitamin B, Vitamin E, magnesium, folate, iron and minerals) are increased. The sprouting process also results in its carbohydrates being decreased and protein increased.
Nutritional value in one cup: 213 calories, 44 carbohydrates, 5g protein, 3g fibre, 1g sugar, 5% iron

White rice

When brown rice goes through a refining process to remove hull and bran (the brown stuff), it becomes white rice. This process strips out all the nutrients like iron, vitamins, zinc and magnesium. Too much white rice may lead to weight gain because of its fast-digesting carbohydrates. There is one benefit though. White rice makes a great post workout meal as the fast-digesting carbs will be taken by your muscles to replace the energy you lose while exercising.
Nutritional value in one cup:204 calories, 22g carbohydrates, 0.6g fibre, 577g sodium, 10% iron, 4g protein

References

How artificial flavour leads to obesity

August 3rd, 2018 by The Hello Doctor Team

In a 2011 segment on US current affairs show, 60 Minutes, journalist Morley Safer spoke to flavourists from food technology company Givaudan. The conversation was a damning one, in which the technologists admitted to wanting to develop food flavours that are addictive.

Fast forward to 2013, and New York Times journalist, Michael Moss, releases his expose, Salt Sugar Fats: How the Food Giants Hooked Us, on how the US processed food industry gets consumers to buy its products and keeps them hooked on high fat, high sugar and high salt pre-prepared foods.

It’s 2015, The Doritos Effect, by journalist Mark Schatzker, makes a case for the link between tasty, processed foods and obesity and other lifestyle diseases. The Doritos Effect goes a little further and suggests that as processed food flavours become more intense, whole foods, like fruit and vegetables, become blander.

Nutritional confusion

Schatzker argues that humans have evolved to appreciate tastes produced in fruit and vegetables by chemicals called primary compounds. These are accompanied by secondary compounds, which are the nutritive component in whole foods. Good taste signals to us that a food is nutritious. But processed foods, which are loaded with fat, sugar and salt (which we also crave), taste good, but lack the nutrients that plants do. Schatzker says this has fooled our bodies and we’re now “nutritionally confused”.

A good example of a processed food to which flavouring is added is a locally produced, long shelf-life fruit juice blend. The list of ingredients includes flavouring and added Vitamin C. A closer look reveals that a serving, 250ml, contains virtually no protein or dietary fibre, but five teaspoons of sugar. Five to six teaspoons of sugar is the World Health Organization’s maximum recommended dietary allowance for an adult; we give our kids fruit juice because we think it’s better than a cold drink. Eating a whole serving of each pureed fruit present in the juice provides significantly more fibre, less sugar and less sodium, and in South Africa at least, a good dollop of taste. Also, a low-sugar, high-fibre fruit provides that feeling of fullness and satisfaction or satiety that signals to our body that we can stop eating now.

Feeling full

Processed food, and particularly junk food, taste great, is high in fat, salt and sugar, low in nutrients, and doesn’t leave us with that feeling of fullness. In fact, our appetite almost seems to be bigger, with these foods leaving us wanting more. Nutrition Advance describes this as having a “full stomach with a hungry brain”. We eat more because the taste is delicious, but short-lived, leaving us hankering for more. We pack on the kilos and develop diabetes, heart disease, and even cancer and yet, still want the same kind of food repeatedly.

It gets worse; not only are naturally-occurring flavours now created in a laboratory because they’re cheaper to produce, technologists can also create whole new flavours. In a world that prizes affordable novelty, blueberry cheesecake ice cream is a sure profit spinner, but is significantly nutrition-poor, without a single secondary compound found in an actual blueberry.

Reprogramming your tastebuds

Schatzker suggests making whole foods tastier. Choose fruit and vegetables for taste as well as yield, disease resistance and shelf-life. If plants taste better, or as good as, artificial flavouring, humans will opt for more filling, nutritious food. Nutritionists agree that your taste buds can be trained to dislike foods high in addictive flavours and empty calories. Slowly cutting out processed foods in favour of whole foods, less salt over time, and eating fewer sugary foods allows your senses to fully appreciate the flavours in fruits and vegetables. Eventually, processed foods taste bad, you’ve kicked the habit, and you’re back on the track to health.

References

Eating healthy and still overweight? Here’s why.

October 31st, 2017 by The Hello Doctor Team

Since we don’t have to think much about what happens to food once we have enjoyed it, it’s easy to take for granted what happens once we swallow. The reality is that our bodies are complicated, and highly sophisticated, pieces of machinery. The action of opening your mouth, putting something in and swallowing, sets off a cascade of physiological events, all of which have an impact on your weight.

Your digestive system in a nutshell

Believe it or not, digestion starts before you’ve even put anything in your mouth. Eyeing out a tasty looking meal sends signals to the brain to prepare for said dish. As a result, chemicals are released that prime your body to start working on getting all the goodness from your meal. Enzymes in your saliva make a good start at breaking food down, while chemicals (digestive enzymes) in the stomach get to work on breaking down food into its most basic building blocks. From there, its shipped off to the small intestine, where yet more enzymes and hormones are activated to absorb nutrients from the intestine into the blood. Depending on what those nutrients are, they are sent off to provide immediate fuel to the body, or stored as back up fuel in fat cells.

The chemical drivers: hormones!

We have hormones for everything – to regulate our appetite, to regulate our sleep, to help us get out of a sticky situation and to help us chill out. Riding shotgun throughout the digestion process are 4 important hormones. Understanding these, and how your lifestyle influences them, can make a big difference to how you manage your weight:

Grehlin, “the hunger hormone”. If you skip a meal, your ghrelin levels rise and make you ravenous, making it nearly impossible for you to resist the next food item you see (spoiler alert: this is why starvation diets almost never work)
Leptin, “the fullness hormone”. Leptin carries messages from your belly to your brain telling it that you’re full. (This messaging system can take around 20 minutes, which is why you should wait a while before having seconds.)
Cortisol, “the stress hormone”. When you’re feeling stressed, your body pumps out cortisol to meet the challenge. Cortisol holds on to your fat as a back up energy source based on the assumption that your stress is so bad you may never eat again!
Insulin, “the fat storing hormone”. Insulin helps the body move energy out of the blood and into the cells. When the cells are all full, it stores the extra energy as fat. If cells are exposed to very high blood sugar concentrations they become resistant to insulin. This means there will be MORE glucose floating around just waiting to plump up fat cells.

Calories in < calories out = weight loss? Not so fast

These hormones (and others!) interact with each other, and your body and can either help or hinder weight loss. One of the most important factors that influence these hormones, is the TYPE of food you eat, not always how much of it.

Here’s a good example. Fizzy and sugary drinks have what we refer to as “empty calories”, so compared to something like an egg, they may have the same total amount of calories, but once they leave your mouth, the pathways these calories travel are significantly different. The drink will deliver you instant energy, spike up your blood sugar and possibly leave you feeling a bit low, and hungry, whereas the same amount of calories from the egg will keep your blood sugar constant and make you feel full and satisfied. Sugary foods also suppress the release of leptin and spark the release of insulin. This means you’ll keep eating more and any excess sugars floating around are going straight to fat! It’s not difficult to consider then that drinking a can of cola every day for 5 will have a vastly different effect on the body and long-term energy balance, and health, compared to eating the same calories from eggs. The reason –a calorie isn’t really a calorie! Shift your focus away from calorie QUANTITY towards calorie QUALITY.

Lifestyle tweaks that could help get weight loss back on track

Genetics, age, medications and certain chronic conditions all play a role in the delicate balance of these hormones. With so many different players involved, it’s not difficult to see how things could start to go wrong! Here are a few things you can try to get the balance back and kickstart weight loss:

Sleep

Just as the type of food you eat influences the release of hormones, so does how you spend your days, and more importantly your nights. Studies have found that those who were deprived of sleep had higher levels of the appetite-stimulating hormone ghrelin and lower levels of the satiety-inducing hormone leptin, with a corresponding increase in hunger and appetite, especially for foods rich in refined carbs (those are the bad ones!). Of course, being awake for longer also gives you more time for snack attacks. And let’s face it, when you’re tired, you reach for whatever is closest, not whatever is healthiest!

What you can do about it: don’t leave sleep as an afterthought. Aim to get a solid 7 to 9 hours sleep each night.

Sitting all day

Regardless of how much exercise you’re doing, if you spend the rest of the day sitting, you could be sabotaging your weight loss efforts. Our body is designed to move, so sitting for long periods causes your body to shut down at the metabolic level. When your muscles, especially leg muscles, are immobile, your circulation slows, so you use less of your blood sugar and you burn less fat. In addition, cells in sitting mode are idle and so don’t respond to insulin, so the pancreas keeps on pumping out more to kick start them back into action. As you can imagine, the more insulin, the more fat is stored and the greater your risk for insulin sensitivity.

What you can do about it: break up your day by getting up and moving around more. Aim for at least 5 minutes every hour.

Ongoing stress

Some stress can be good, too much can be bad. Your body gets into “fight or flight” mode, and to help you through the “danger”, delivers a surge of cortisol. Besides hormonal changes, it also puts you at risk other “unhealthy” behaviours, like smoking, drinking, and in the case of an office worker, very long hours sitting in one place.

What you can do about it: identify your stressors and proactively take steps to address them. Meditation is an excellent way to do this!

Being on a “diet”

Thoughts about weight loss and food can easily start spinning out of control. An unhealthy obsession with food can often just make you want to eat more. Don’t forget too, that the best diet for you is very likely not the best diet for your next-door neighbour. Individual responses to different diets vary enormously.

What you can do about it: embrace a healthy lifestyle, not a quick fix diet. Try to look past that number on a scale. There is so much more to being healthy than being an ideal weight!

References

https://www.webmd.com/diet/features/your-hunger-hormones
https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/obesity-prevention-source/2010/01/01/3-ways-decreased-sleep-contributes-to-overeating-2/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3329818/

How to make sense of the internet diets

August 25th, 2017 by The Hello Doctor Team

Simply type in the word “diet” into Google and within 0,43 seconds you will be met with over 698,000,000 results. It’s no wonder you’re confused. Dietary guidelines change… a lot. You’d be forgiven for wanting to throw in the towel and simply do your own thing. You wouldn’t be alone either. One survey found that people are so confused by what food is considered “good” or “bad” they find it easier to figure out their income taxes!

Why so much confusion?

First, we were told to stay away from eggs, but now they’re “eggcellent”. Then we were told fat was bad, but now it’s our BFF. The thing is, diets aren’t just about the food that we consume, they’re also about all the information, websites, books and blogposts that go along with them.

This is usually where problems creep in. Much of what is published on the internet, or even in magazines, is based on “personal” experience, with no scientific proof. Nutritional messages are also broken down into “sound bites”. You’d read a headline seen in isolation, without understanding the bigger picture. When you hear a new scientific study about a new superfood, supplement or beauty routine, it’s easy to think: everyone says it works, it must be fine – toss out the old and start with the new!

The dangers of internet dieting

Unfortunately, there are no regulations curbing radical new diets being promoted on the internet. The human body is extremely complex: just because something works for a gorgeous, tanned and toned fitness blogger (or a buff, 6-pack wielding body builder) doesn’t mean it will work for you. Some of the things that make you, you, also make a difference to how your body deals with food. Hormones, genetics and metabolism vary greatly between people and can mean the difference between sending you to a smaller waist size or sending you to the doctor.

What is “safe”?

Despite the ever-changing dietary news cycle, the basic principle of a healthy diet has NOT changed. It can also be summarised in a single sentence:

Eat more real food, eat less junk food

“Real food” means food that is unprepared (basically anything that grew, walked, ran, flew or swam). Meat, fish, eggs, vegetables, fruits, nuts are all good examples of real food. Junk food means anything that comes from a drive-through, that you know is cooked when you hear your microwave ping, or that you eat straight out of a box.

Here are a few more red flags when it comes to deciding whether to try the latest diet:

It guarantees quick and amazing weight loss without any changes to your diet or exercise routine
It involves combining certain foods, or not eating certain foods together
It comes in a bottle or pill
It claims you can still eat chocolate or ice-cream or your favourite foods
It only works if you buy the book too (which by the way is written by someone who you’ve never heard of)

Before you splurge on the next best thing…

If you feel that your weight is out of control and that its time to make a change, speak to a registered professional. It’s the nutritionist and dietician’s job to stay up to date with the latest research. They can help you navigate through the information overload that comes with being able to access the internet!

The bottom line is that before you spend your hard earned cash on a magical weight loss programme, consider this – fad diets do not, cannot and will never work. Stick with a balanced diet and the odd bit of exercise – a combination that costs you nothing and can deliver on its promise!

References

http://www.foodinsight.org/2012_Food_Health_Survey_Consumer_Attitudes_toward_Food_Safety_Nutrition_and_Health
https://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/healthy-eating/
https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/weight-loss-and-fad-diets

Why running isn’t helping you lose weight

July 8th, 2017 by The Hello Doctor Team

You run every day, but it isn’t showing on the scale. What’s the deal?

Unfortunately, running isn’t a magic bullet for weight loss. Sure, it burns more calories than any other form of exercise (360 to 380 calories per 30 minutes!), but it won’t automatically give you a leaner physique – especially if you push yourself too hard.

The more you exercise, the more your body naturally tries to compensate by altering your metabolism through protective mechanisms designed to prevent starvation and indefinite weight loss.

“The human body has a good capability for regulating its bodyweight,” explains Glenn Gaesser, professor of exercise science at the Arizona State University. “We all have a set-point range for our weight and, while the average person may consume three-quarters of a million calories per year, from year to year we weigh pretty much the same thing”.

Can’t outrun a bad diet…
Nutritionists and fitness experts frequently tell their clients (with good reason) that a bad diet cannot be “cheated” simply through running – or other exercises. Not unless you’re an Olympic-level athlete who needs a million calories because you’re burning just as many!

According to a study in the journal, Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, when starting an exercise programme to lose weight, some people adopt “compensatory behaviours”, i.e. they eat more and move less when they’re not exercising. “An enhanced motivational drive or wanting food after exercise may explain why some people overcompensate when given access to food after exercise,” the study finds.

Many people overestimate the number of calories they burn through exercise, or look at the amount they burn and use it as justification to “eat back” those calories, says Kim Feeney, a sports dietician at the Arizona State University. This can undo all your best efforts, and explain why many people actually gain weight once they take up running.

In fact, weight gain is quite common as exercise can increase appetite, research shows. Exercise is thought to influence eating behaviour by modulating the pleasure you get from eating and the drive to eat.

The good news is that in the long run, exercise can regulate your appetite, making it easier to cut down on snacking and eat at set times of the day. In the short term, exercise stimulates brain areas linked with reward and dependence. This can make you crave high-fat, energy-dense foods, which can cancel out the benefits of running.

The harder you train, the more often you’ll get hungry. And, the more likely you are to increase your energy intake – consciously or subconsciously. With this increased hunger, it’s not uncommon to underestimate how many calories you’re consuming.

Fact of the matter is, if you don’t burn more calories than you consume, you won’t see any progress. Keeping track of your calorie intake is essential to losing weight – whether you’re a runner or not.

Run on?
Running uses the muscles in your legs, bum and core. These are key muscles for burning calories. If weight loss is your ultimate goal, running can help you achieve this. However, running in itself won’t make the fat fall off.

To burn more calories and boost fat loss, consider adapting your running regime to include more high intensity intermittent exercise (HIIE). According to a study in the Journal of Obesity, HIIE may have greater potential than steady-state exercise (like running, jogging and cycling), in reducing visceral fat. The study also found that just 20 minutes of HIIE, three times a week for 12 weeks, resulted in significant reductions in total body, abdominal, and trunk fat. What’s more, HIIE may have a suppressive effect on appetite.

Gaesser also recommends investing in an activity tracker. That way you can check that you’re still maintaining the same number of steps and overall activity when you’re not running.

References:

Weight loss: the highs and lows of intermittent fasting

June 29th, 2017 by The Hello Doctor Team

Simply put, intermittent fasting is making a conscious decision to skip a meal (or more!) on purpose. That’s different to you skipping lunch because you didn’t have time, or breakfast because you were running late for work. Rather, intermittent fasting is a planned dietary intervention.

The practice of intermittent fasting has been around for many years, but only recently gained popularity. Done correctly, this way of eating (or not eating in this case!) has several health benefits, including:

Weight loss
Improved glucose control and lowered diabetes risk
Improved mental clarity and concentration
Increased energy levels

How does it work?
Not surprisingly, your body operates differently when it’s “feasting” to when its “fasting”. When “feasting”, your body gets its energy directly from what you eat (it likes to take the easy way out). Because it has all this readily-available, easy to burn energy (thanks to the food you ate), your body will choose to use that as energy rather than the fat you have stored. This is especially true if you just ate carbohydrates or sugar, as your body prefers to burn sugar as energy before anything else.

When “fasting”, you don’t have all that free energy floating around, so your body must pull energy from fat stores around your body.

It’s all about the hormones!
Working behind the scenes in both scenarios is the hormone insulin. Insulin’s job is to help cells absorb and use energy (glucose). Once the cells have had their full of energy, insulin then stores left-over glucose as fat. The more sensitive your cells are to insulin the more efficient they are at breaking down food and using it for energy, and therefore less is stored as fat (everyone’s ultimate goal!).

On a normal (i.e. non-fasting) day, insulin sensitivity is low because cells will notice enough glucose in the blood stream. Therefore, this glucose is more likely to get stored as fat.

After intermittent fasting, however, your cells immediately become more sensitive to insulin. In other words, intermittent fasting can help teach your body to use the food it consumes more efficiently, and, as a bonus, helps teach your body to burn fat as fuel.

Are there any lows to intermittent fasting?
There are a few things you should be aware of before considering fasting:

Hunger! Initially this will be your biggest problem! If you eat every three hours normally, your body will start to get hungry every three hours as it learns and becomes used to expecting (and receiving) food every three hours. Once you retrain your body to NOT expect food all day every day (or first thing in the morning), these side-effects become less of an issue.
Less going in means less to come out! This is something your body adapts to quickly.
Headaches and dizziness are common but disappear as your body adapts.

Drinking water, sugar-free coffee or tea (without milk!), staying busy and staying away from easy-to-reach snacks can all help get you through these niggles.

How to get started
There are various types of fasting. You would need to use yourself as a test guinea pig and give a few a try before finding one that works for you. There are both short term and long term fasting options:

16:8. This involves daily fasting for 16 hours. You eat all your meals within an 8-hour time period and fast for the remaining 16 hours. For example, fast from 8pm to 12pm the next day, essentially skipping breakfast. Done daily or almost daily.
20:4. This involves a 4-hour eating window and a 20-hour fast. For example, eat between 2:00 pm and 6:00 pm every day and fast for the other 20 hours. Generally, this would involve eating either one meal or two smaller meals within this period
24hr fasts: fast from dinner to dinner (or lunch to lunch). Done 2-3 times a week
36hr fasts: fasting for an entire day. For example, eat dinner on day 1, fast for all of day 2 and not eat again until breakfast on day 3.

The real key is to make smart food choices when you DO eat. Nutrient dense options, including nuts, eggs, cheese, green veggies and protein are your best choices, because these don’t cause any radical blood sugar changes that also cause your appetite to spike. Bingeing on unhealthy carbs during this time, will only cause your glucose-levels to roller-coaster, and make you feel worse.

Is it for everyone?
No. Fasting works well for most people, but there are a few groups who should stick to regular meal times. You should not fast if you are:

Underweight
Pregnant or breastfeeding – you need extra nutrients for your child.
A child under 18 – you need extra nutrients to grow
Suffering from an existing condition (e.g. diabetes) or take chronic medication. Always talk to a doctor before making any tweaks to your existing diet.

Changing up your diet in this way requires a fair bit of willpower. Don’t fool yourself that by skipping breakfast you’ll be able to “catch up” by eating 17 pieces of bread for lunch! You need to ensure that your meals continue to be balanced… regardless of what time of the day it is when you do eat!

References
https://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/a-beginners-guide-to-intermittent-fasting/
https://www.dietdoctor.com/intermittent-fasting
http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/102/2/464.long

How to feel fuller for longer

April 22nd, 2017 by The Hello Doctor Team

You’re almost at your goal weight; if only those last few kilos would just disappear… Or, you’re just getting started on your health kick, and you need a few quick wins on that scale.

Either way, you can make your tummy work for you with techniques that will make you feel fuller for longer, leading to more sustained weight loss without starving yourself.

Fibre filler
Fibre plays an important role in your diet. It helps to control your appetite (it fills you up, so you eat less), prevents constipation and could protect against chronic diseases of lifestyle, such as cancer and heart disease. The reason fibre is such a diet winner is that it releases a slow and steady stream of glucose into the blood, so your energy levels don’t go up and down, but remain stable. This is good news for managing your weight fluctuations.
Try: high-fibre cereals and legumes like soya, lentils, chickpeas and canned beans.

Great GI
The glycaemic index (GI) is useful for controlling blood-sugar levels. To lower the GI of a meal, add vegetables to a starchy meal. For example, eat roasted veggies with potato to reduce the high GI of the potato. By cooking starches and cooling them down, you can minimise their GIs. This is called the “second-meal effect”, which simply means that eating low GI foods at breakfast keeps you going well into lunch time. Less snacking equals less binge eating.
Try: oatmeal porridge, wholegrain toast, brown rice, quinoa, couscous, and lean proteins.

Satisfying soups
Before you launch into the yummy yet calorie-laden lunch of fried chicken and chips, why not try a small bowl of soup first? Researchers from Penn State and Duke University found that low-energy soup made from chicken stock and vegetables reduced the total amount of food consumed by 20 percent!
Try: vegetable and chicken stock soups; skip the cream-based ones.

Do dairy right
The jury is still out on dairy for weight loss; some research does show however that the calcium in milk, yoghurt and cheese plays a role in reducing fat cells in the body. Other studies point out that the protein in dairy can make you feel fuller for longer.
Try: stick to no more than two portions of dairy products a day. Portion control is key!

Spice up your life
Spicy food can burn your tastebuds – and possibly a few fat cells too while filling you up nicely. Researchers in Holland and Quebec found that eating spicy foods leads to “thermogenesis”; also known as heat generation. This nifty little process burns kilojoules. The results were especially potent from the effects of spices like

Capsaicin, black pepper, ginger and mixed spices. If you have ulcer or heartburn problems, though, take it easy on the heat!

Try: add paprika, chilli powder, black pepper, ginger and spices to your foods.

References:

The Easter eggs you should be eating

March 21st, 2017 by The Hello Doctor Team

Boiled, poached or scrambled, eggs are one of the most versatile and nutritious foods in your kitchen. Both the white and yolk are good sources of inexpensive, high-quality protein, needed to build and maintain your muscles, organs, skin and tissue, antibodies, enzymes and hormones. In fact, eggs are thought of as a “complete” source of protein as they contain all eight essential amino acids.

What’s more, eggs are packed with essential vitamins and minerals. They provide a little bit of almost every nutrient we need, including Vitamins A, B5, B12, D and E, and minerals like choline, iodine, iron, phosphorus and selenium.

With their incredible nutritional content, eggs play a major role in a healthy, balanced diet, and could boost your health. Eggs:

Contain lutein and zeaxanthin, antioxidants that help keep your eyes healthy and protect against macular degeneration and cataracts.
Are one the best sources of choline; an essential nutrient used to build cell membranes and enable brain development in the foetus. It also enhances memory function into old age.
Are one of the few natural food sources of Vitamin D, which is essential for calcium absorption and maintaining healthy bones and teeth.
Can raise levels of HDL “good” cholesterol. Higher levels of HDL have been linked to a lower risk of heart disease. Some brands of eggs contain Omega-3 fatty acids, known to reduce triglycerides (bad fats) in the blood. This can also slash your risk for heart problems.
Can keep you fuller for longer, which can prevent unhealthy snacking and reduce your overall calorie intake. This little side benefit can help with weight loss and help you maintain a healthy weight.

The cholesterol question
Eggs are known for being high in cholesterol and have for years been deemed as “unhealthy”. A single egg has 212 mg, which is more than half of the recommended daily intake of 300 mg. Still, the cholesterol in eggs has almost no effect on your blood cholesterol levels. Foods that are high in saturated fat have more of an impact on your blood cholesterol levels than foods containing cholesterol. Eggs are low in saturated fat, so they shouldn’t raise your LDL “bad” cholesterol levels.

The main concern is how you prepare the egg, what you eat with it, and what you eat for the rest of the day. This may be the culprit for high cholesterol levels and not your egg consumption.

You can safely eat one or two eggs several times a week.

References: