Every day there are more and more articles in the paper and in other media about the obesity epidemic and the concern about the growing obesity in children. Last weekend I heard an interview on National Radio with Professor Boyd Swinburn from the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences at Auckland University. He said that while other countries around the world, including the United States, were starting to reverse the obesity levels in children, New Zealand was not which is very concerning. Younger and younger children are developing Type 2 diabetes and even needing hip replacements because of their uncontrolled weight issues. According to an
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Avocados
Avocados are a great source of good monounsaturated fatty acids plus vitamins A,B & D. Handy hint: Use avocado as a spread rather than butter or margarine which may have saturated fat or even worse, trans fats in them. Avocado tastes great and goes with most things. Handy hint: after you have used the avocado, turn the skin inside out and rub over your face previously dampened with warm water. Leave for 5 minutes then wash off leaving lovely smooth skin. One block snack: Three Arnott’s crackers (oblong ones), avocado as a spread. Put a pate of tinned salmon and low
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Testimonial
Dear Carol Thanks so much for your help, after being diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes at week 28 of my pregnancy I was told that I might need to be prescribed insulin to control my sugar levels for the last 12 weeks of my pregnancy and more than likely need inducing early under the care of the hospital doctors and not my lovely midwife that I trusted and built up a rapport with from the beginning. As I have always been healthy, slim and fit I do not fit the standard Gestational Diabetes mold this was a complete shock! Thanks to following your advice, I
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Some Alternative Ideas for Cheese and Potatoes
Some convenient products to consider for easy and interesting Zoning Say “Cheese” and smile Most people love cheese and it is a versatile and convenient food that is high in protein with virtually no carbohydrate, unfortunately hard cheese is also high in unhealthy saturated fat and this is why we recommend limiting consumption. When buying cheese we have recommended choosing Edam cheese for its lower total, and therefore saturated, fat content compared to other varieties. Unfortunately Edam tends to be a bit bland and uninteresting. The good news is that Mainland have produced a tasty cheddar cheese they call
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Guilt Free Chocolate Drink and Flavouring
Contributed by Kevin Bateman The last time you read something like that heading it was probably a low fat but very high carbohydrate product. Not so a new New Zealand made product that is very low in fat and carbohydrate yet is deliciously rich and chocolaty. Avalanche Sugar Free Cocoa Chocolate Drinking Mix is supposed to be a kids’ product but it is way too good to be reserved for children only. It contains no artificial sweeteners and appears to be flavoured cocoa that is sweetened with the natural sweeteners erythritol and stevia. These sweeteners have negligible
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Comments and Recipes.
blood sugar, carbohydrates, chocolate, cocoa, fat, protein, stevia, sweeteners, and Zone.
blood sugar, carbohydrates, chocolate, cocoa, fat, protein, stevia, sweeteners, and Zone.
Gluten-Free – a Growing Business
“Don’t be fooled….just because it’s gluten-free doesn’t mean it’s healthy. The majority of gluten-free products are just highly processed junk foods with clever marketing designs. Breads, cereals, cookies, muffins, pastas, etc. labeled gluten-free typically replace wheat with rice & corn (flour) starch, potato starch, soy flour, tapioca starch & sorghum, which quickly metabolize into sugar, spike insulin, increase cravings and inflammation” comment from Paula Owens, Nutritionist on LinkedIn While some people may be gluten sensitive, very few are coeliacs who are truly gluten intolerant. There are plenty of good food choices out there without gluten in them but the burgeoning
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Gestational Diabetes
I recently had a visit from a friend who was 33 weeks pregnant with her first baby. She was told that she had gestational diabetes and because of that she was going to need to be on medication, was probably going to have a large baby that would need to be delivered by caesarian section and that she was at a high risk for developing diabetes later in life. She was horrified that the diabetic clinic had not even asked her to keep a food diary. Fortunately she knew about my services and came to see me. Fortunately too she had
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The Right amount of Protein is Important
Zone nutrition is usually mislabeled as a “high protein” diet. It is in fact “protein adequate” in that we work out how much protein you need to eat each day to maintain your muscle mass. Once you reach 30 you start to lose muscle and eating in the Zone protects your muscle mass so while you may lose weight you do not lose muscle. We had one client who went from a size 16 to a 10 but only lost one kilo on the scales. Her body shape changed completely but she lost fat but not muscle. The other important factor
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Comments.
balanced, carbohydrates, fat, inflammation, insulin, muscle, nutrition, protein, Sleep, weight control, and Zone.
balanced, carbohydrates, fat, inflammation, insulin, muscle, nutrition, protein, Sleep, weight control, and Zone.
Fat is not the problem…
Handy Hint of the Week: It’s not fat that makes you fat but sugar that makes you fat. That doesn’t mean you can eat any amounts of fat but fat stops you feeling hungry. If you eat low fat food add the appropriate amount of good fats into your meal or snack. Good fats include olives, olive oil, avocado and nuts, especially almonds. Olive Oil: New Zealand produces some of the best olive oils in the world and they are fresh whereas the imported ones from Italy, etc may be several years old by the time they get here. Oils oxidise and
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Sugar – the Real Problem
The World is Waking Up to the Consequences of Sugar Addiction There have been several articles written over the summer about the obesity epidemic with it’s resulting damage to our health. It is particularly interesting to see that the experts are starting to recognize that the main cause of obesity, diabetes, heart disease and the other conditions caused by underlying inflammation is caused by the amount of sugar in our diet. One of my mantras is that “it isn’t fat that makes you fat, it’s sugar that makes you fat”. I didn’t make that up of course, Dr Sears wrote
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Recipes
Check out the recipe section for two new delicious recipe ideas: Cauliflower Rice as a healthy alternative to eating rice but just as delicious and Stuffed Red Pepper which can be made as a vegetarian option.
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Testimonial
A testimonial from a client 4 weeks after starting in the Zone: I am over the moon about the blood sugar levels being back to normal (wasn’t expecting that so soon as it was the three month test (but I didn’t start until after Christmas) so the next one will be lower still. Also am down to my ideal weight of 68 kgs from 73 kgs. SW
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Biggest Loser
Below are the results of the Biggest Loser challenge that my daughter, Talya, took part in at her work over 8 weeks. Talya did it all in the Zone and lead every week of the challenge. She now has the tools to control her weight and her health for the rest of her life. Talya has also got the other benefits from eating the Zone – more energy, sleeping better and generally feeling better. Congratulations Tal, I’m so proud of you. FINAL LEADERBOARD Talya 6.81% LOSS 2 2.33% LOSS 3 1.50% LOSS 4 0.91% LOSS 5 0.91% LOSS 6
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Announcements and Comments.
Holiday Travel Tips
Zone bars are very handy to have on hand when travelling by car, bus, boat, plane or train. For bush walking or on other walks they are small and light to carry, provide good nutrition and help keep up energy levels, the only extra you need carry is water. Several years ago we easily did the Tongariro Crossing in 5 hours on just 1½ bars each for breakfast before setting out and 1 bar each for lunch on the walk. I also find it handy to keep one in my handbag for when I get peckish or everyone else is
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Festive Entertaining
Instead of getting in the traditional Christmas cake and fruit mince pies for visitors consider better options. Put out attractively arranged cheeses, ham, turkey, smoked beef, other sliced meats and shellfish with grapes, cherries and strawberries, nuts and olives, cherry tomatoes and perhaps a salmon and cottage cheese mixture with a few Arnotts Vita Wheat crackers or raw or lightly cooked vegetables with a yoghurt and tahini or peanut butter dip. These platters are quick and easy to put together, always look attractive and are very popular.
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Best Wishes for the Festive Season
Holiday Season Tips For some people the festive season can provide a temporary challenge to their Zone nutrition lifestyle. If you want to take a Zone holiday fine, although you will find that you feel a lot better if you roughly eat in the Zone at all those festive season events. Many clients report to us the good effects and how easy they find making Zone balanced choices at Christmas functions, parties and for Christmas dinner when they resolve to “just Zone it”. Following are a few tips on how you can enjoy the party season and still not stray
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New Heart Foundation Recommendations
The NZ Heart Foundation’s new revised healthy food choice advice has been released and published in the 7th November edition of the The Dominion Post. They have distanced themselves from their old failed model by scrapping the well known Pyramid completely and have replaced it with a stylized heart. The new advice recommends consuming food groups in what appears to be approximately the following proportions: 40% vegetables and fruit – eat most 25% breads, cereals, grains, starchy vegetables – eat some 15% fish, meat, chicken, legumes, eggs 12% milk, yoghurt, cheese 5% oils, nuts – use some 3% cut back on
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Announcements, Comments, and Science.
carbohydrates, fat, healthy food, Heart Foundation, pyramid, sugar, and trans fats.
carbohydrates, fat, healthy food, Heart Foundation, pyramid, sugar, and trans fats.
Tomato Sauce
Tomatoes in all their natural forms are favourable and healthy carbohydrate with the obvious exception of commercial tomato sauce that is often about one third sugar. The ProZone book has a lot of tomato based recipes. When making sauce and cooking with tomatoes I strongly recommend using imported tomato pulp instead of New Zealand grown canned tomatoes for ease of use, taste and results. My reasons for this are that NZ canned tomatoes are sometimes very watery and they are not completely sun ripened before canning. This has a significant effect on taste and ease of use. The products I recommend are in
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Psyllium Husk
Barry Sears mentions psyllium husk as a product to add to foods to give a feeling of fullness as it swells in the stomach. If you find smoothies or soy fruit ices not as satisfying as you would expect you could try adding a teaspoon of psyllium husk. It is no count dietary fibre. It can also be used as a thickener and added to yoghurt, milk, desserts, porridge and muesli etc and used in cooking. It can also be simply stirred into water and taken as fibre and a filler. Please note the psyllium husk is a heavy dose of
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Fennel Bulbs
Barry Sears has written a book called The 100 Top Zone Foods that has a lot of useful information about these foods in it. Of course there are way more than 100 really good Zone favourable foods. One of these is worth mentioning as it is in season now. Fennel bulbs have a fresh crisp aniseed flavour. If you are not familiar with this vegetable that is under rated and under utilised in New Zealand it could be worth trying it. It adds flavour when sliced raw into salads and can be stir fried, boiled or roasted. Another way to
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