Friday 13 May 2016

Let’s drink a drink a drink…

Watching the calories is tough but most things we consume these days come with listed calorie, fat and carbohydrate content so that we are informed and can make the right choices about what we eat. It’s much harder to calorie count or monitor intake when we don’t know what we’re consuming. Alcohol is a very good example of where we can consume calories without realising its effect and throw all our good work out of the window. Moreover, alcohol calories are empty calories and they don’t offer any nutritional value.

So what to drink when you’re out having a good time without doing too much damage (that’s calorie related damage... we take no responsibility for general drunken related carnage!)?
 
 
Here’s some ace tipple tips!
·        AVOID - beer, lager & cider. Some contain as much as 250 calories per pint! That’s equivalent to a whole chocolate bar and slightly more than a jacket potato. One pint is one pint but consider the cumulative effect of having two or three and then you’ve basically consumed an entire roast dinner in calories. A beer belly is just that; so if you’re trying to be careful in what you eat steer clear of these kind of bevvies.

·        Sadly, and we say this with a heavy heart, you really should stay clear of sweet cocktails. However colourful and enticing they are, they are laden with sweet syrups and sugary fruit juices so really be careful and read ingredients (when available) so you know exactly what is going in your pretty pink drink.

·        The lowest calorie options are mixers – vodka or gin – mixed with a slim-line tonic or even better soda water. We find, and we have tested this at length, that vodka, lime and soda is a pretty compelling way to hit the bottle. Ask for fresh lime, not cordial and get stuck in. Be careful of whiskey mixers though – whiskey is higher in calories than white spirits and is often mixed with sweeter soft drinks.  

·        Likewise, mixing white wine spritzer with soda water is also not a bad way to go. A glass of wine (approx. 85 cals) is ok and can be a lovely accompaniment to a meal. Drinking wine in excess though is worth avoiding – the calories really add up – and if we may be so bold, make for a particularly nasty hangover!!

Some other tips include not drinking on an empty stomach, having a full glass of water in between every drink and stay away from mindless munching when there are nibbles around.
The best advice we can offer is to check the calorie count of your drink of choice before you indulge so that you know what you are consuming. On the odd occasion when you replace proper food calories with empty alcohol calories, waistlines shouldn’t be too compromised. But regular excess drinking is as bad as a cheeky daily chocolate bar. So arm yourself with knowledge and make smart drinking decision.

Have fun!

Friday 6 May 2016

One potato, two potato, three potato, four…


“No carbs before Marbs”, “The Atkins diet” … over the past few years carbohydrates have got a very bad press and are often the first things to go when embarking on a crash diet. But to exclude a whole food group which has some great nutritional properties is crazy, so let’s take a closer look at carbs and dispel some of the common myths around it.
The main problem for carbs is that they fall into two groups – the complex, or good carbs, and their cousins of lesser intelligence, the simple or bad carbs. Sounds like a scientific minefield but actually it’s pretty easy to navigate when you know how.  In the most basic terms carbohydrates are our fuel. Just like petrol is to a car, carbohydrates are to our body. Our bodies break down the carbohydrate into glucose (blood sugar) and our body uses this sugar for energy for our cells, tissues and organs which we need in order to function. So no carbs is no good.

COMPLEX CARBOHYDRATES:
The best sort of “fuel” you can give your body is a complex carbohydrate. That means a carbohydrate which takes your body a long time to break down. They are made up of lots and lots of sugar molecules all strung together in a long complex chain (polysaccharides). Our body breaks off these sugar molecules bit by bit thereby slowly releasing energy throughout the day. This keeps blood sugars low and keeps your body working most efficiently – it’s your “super-unleaded petrol”. Food that fall into this category includes:

·        green vegetables
·        Whole grains and foods made from them such as oatmeal, whole-wheat pasta, whole-grain breads, brown rice, whole-wheat couscous, quinoa etc.
·        Starch vegetables such as potatoes, sweet potatoes and corn
·        Beans, lentils & peas

SIMPLE CARBOHYDRATES:
Simple carbohydrates are sugars that are made of just 1 or 2 molecules (monosaccharides). They are the quickest source of energy as they are rapidly digested. Now, not all simple carbohydrates are bad – fruit falls into this category. Having a piece of fruit before an exercise session will give you an instant hit of energy your body needs (fruit is also rich in nutrients and is loaded with fibre but that’s a whole other blog…)

But the reason simple carbohydrates are so bad for us is because it gives us such a quick release of glucose! This sends our blood sugar levels soaring and has to get insulin in on the act to help lower our blood sugar levels at which point you feel the “sugar crash” because our blood sugar levels have dropped. Our bodies then immediately crave sugar again to increase our blood sugar levels and so the cycle begins (repeat in excess = type 2 diabetes but let’s not go down that road).
The other issue with consuming simple carbohydrates is that we don’t need that much energy released into our system in one shot, so whatever doesn’t get used up converts to fat.

Some examples of Simple carbohydrates include:
·        Fruit
·        Sugar
·        Baked goods – white breads, pastries etc.
·        Sweets & chocolate
·        White pasta, easy cook rice

Simple carbs such as white pasta, white bread, white rice etc. is so bad for us is because the grain has been broken down to its most simple form. So rather than letting our bodies digest it and break it down giving the slow release of energy, the manufacturing process has done that for us.
So complex carbohydrates are the way forward if we want our bodies running as clean lean mean dream machines- but do remember, even too much of a complex carbohydrate will get converted to fat if it’s not used - use it or lose it. So it’s about keeping that balance!!