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A simple change in your diet can pave the way to many health benefits. Our nutritionist answers your questions...
Not Eating My friend told me that she goes for days without eating because she feels really sick and can't bring herself to eat anything. She says she's not anorexic because she wants to eat, but she just can't. She can barely stand up and is dizzy all the time. Her mum knows about this but is sceptical about what the doctors can do. Does this relate to food (apart from the fact she won't eat it) or is it something else and will the doctor be any help?
If she hasn’t been to the doctor, then it’s definitely time to go. If she has already been to a doctor and not got much help then I recommend she asks for a referral to see a gastroenterology specialist as soon as possible for some diagnostic tests. She could have many reasons for these symptoms, but she needs to be diagnosed properly before any dietary changes or suggestions can be made.
Overseas Weight Gain I have recently come back from overseas and started a pretty vigorous exercise and diet regime due to putting on a good few extra kgs while I was away. I would like to have a realistic aim to lose a certain amount of inches or kgs in a certain time frame. I was wanting to know what a healthy aim would be? Say per week or month. I am 5'4 and 66kg.
Aim for 1 to 2 kilos to be lost per month, so you may be looking at 5 to 10 kilos being lost over a year. If you lose this weight any quicker, or if your diet is too stringent, then you will put the weight on again fairly quickly. If weight is lost slowly then it will stay off permanently. Keep the exercise up on a daily basis and you will get the goal you are after.
Problem Skin My friend has always had problems with acne. She has been to a specialist and they have told her amongst other things to have a really healthy diet. Now my friend is already extremely small and doesn't need to lose weight but because of what the specialist said she is now eating healthier doing more exercise and is constantly losing weight. I'm really concerned about her and I'm not sure what I should do. She is trying desperately to get rid her acne but won't put her health first. What should I do?
Her acne may have other causes than diet. Stress (the type that people put themselves through when they think they are not good enough) can sometimes be a cause of this problem. Continue to support her, and in conversation focus on her positive personality characteristics and discuss her best points often. When people’s self esteem is raised it seems to reduce a lot of stress and obsessional behaviour. Do encourage her to see a counsellor regarding this problem before her health gets run down. On a nutritional note, Healtheries Liver Aid, Healtheries B Complex Supreme, and Healtheries Zinc Plus, are all supplements I suggest for acne. Liver Aid helps the liver to clear toxins, and B vitamins help to reduce stress. Zinc is well known to assist in reducing acne.
Irregular Eating Patterns I am 16 and I have really bad eating habits. I always skip breakfast. I never take any lunch to school either, so I never eat at school. When I get home from school I eat until I can’t possibly fit any more food in. Then at tea time I’m not hungry so I skip tea and then get hungry before I go to bed so I eat then. I do this every day and I really want to stop it as it makes me feel yuck afterwards. How should I go about changing my bad eating habits?
You are going to have to get up tomorrow morning and resolve to eat breakfast every day from now on. As you can see your food ‘day’ is way off track, and the only way to stop this bad habit is to jump in at the beginning of the day and start feeding yourself even if you aren’t hungry and it seems to not feel very good initially. This will change as your body gets used to the new regime however and you will start to look forward to breakfast.
When you start having breakfast and lunch your blood sugar levels will be more balanced and the day will flow more evenly. Start with a small helping of muesli or an egg on toast for breakfast, then at lunchtime have a chicken, fish, egg, or meat sandwich with salad. Take several pieces of fruit to school with you to eat as snacks before you get home also. You will notice straight away that the bingeing when you get home will be very much less, and you will start to feel like dinner at the right time.
Eating at a Hall of Residence I’m in my first year of university, living away from home in a hall of residence. We only get three meals a day so I like to have snacks in my room for in between meal times. What kinds of food would be good? Also, I’ve noticed I’ve put on weight and I’m getting bloated quite a lot.
University Halls of Residence have a reputation for feeding hungry students up well; however, weight can easily become a problem if you partake in everything they serve. You are going to have to use your willpower to say no to the variety of food on offer, as well as keep a look out for high fat, high sugar and high starch foods and avoid them wherever possible. Best to keep a large fruit bowl in your room and fill it constantly. Packets of crispbreads, rice or corn cakes are also useful and keep well. Top with tinned tuna, tomato, avocado, cottage cheese, hummus, or peanut butter – but don’t eat too many of them. Spirulina tablets will help to keep cravings away and keep you going while you are studying, and finally nuts, seeds, and dried fruit are excellent as healthy snack foods, but you need to make sure you aren’t going to mow through the whole bag.
Lastly, make exercise part of every day. Join the gym or a university sports group and get going. The more exercise you do the less chance your weight will get really out of hand.
Unwanted Weight I recently gained some unwanted weight. I'll be honest. I've been slack at the gym and my eating habits were worse for wear. I'm back on track with my gym and I’m walking to and from work everyday. I’m working on my eating habits and I've noticed I eat a lot of carbohydrates. I was thinking about cutting them out - not altogether just down to a minimum - and increasing my protein and non-starchy vegetables for a while to maybe jump start my lazy metabolism. I'm about 5'5'' and 70kgs at the moment. Any recommendations or advice would be appreciated.
People would like to ‘jump start’ their metabolism, but unfortunately metabolisms don’t jump start at all! If you attempt a major diet change in the direction you suggest, you will most probably find that within a short space of time that you will be craving for sugary foods, and struggling with constipation – carbohydrate foods provide the fibre to get things going and help to keep your blood sugar levels balanced. Only regular good eating habits and exercise habits will give you the outcome you desire.
Don’t cut your carbos out, just change them to healthy ones – wholegrain bread, wholegrain muesli, brown rice, wholemeal pasta and noodles, and keep the starchy veggies in – but don’t roast or fry them, only steam. Do say no to sugar and sugar containing drinks, white bread, sugar containing breakfast cereals, white rice, white pasta and noodles, cakes, biscuits, and sweets.
By all means increase your protein intake but keep it low fat – lean meat, skinless chicken, eggs (not fried), tuna and salmon (not tinned in oil), only cottage cheese (not cheddar). And keep that exercise going.
Some people find a course of Healtheries Liver Aid tablets can help to get your system going if you are feeling a bit sluggish.
A Varied Diet I have been on a good healthy diet for about a year now and I am really enjoying the benefits. However I work full time and eat breakfast and lunch at work, and because of convenience and cost these meals don't often change or vary - for breakfast I have a bowl of un-toasted natural muesli with milk, and for lunch I usually have two pieces of fruit (usually a banana, orange or apple) with Vogels toast and peanut butter. I am quite happy, but is it bad to be eating the same things and types of fruit over and over again? Should I make more of an effort to eat a variety of things, will this make much of a difference?
The guidelines for good eating do recommend that we have as much variety as possible; however you aren’t doing too badly. You have some good habits so don’t feel you have to change them. The only problem I can see here is that you aren’t having any protein for lunch, and over time this will impact on your energy and iron levels. I suggest you swap the peanut butter (it is not a complete protein) with egg, cottage cheese, pate, or tinned fish – swap them around for interest and you will have a more balanced diet.
Flabby Arms I'm happy with my diet and I'm good with exercising. I would like some advice about my upper arms. They're a bit flabby underneath. I've got weights but the exercises I did only built up my biceps, not my triceps. Can you recommend any exercises that specifically target your triceps?
Sit on a chair with your palms flat on the chair on either side of you. Gently lift your bottom off the chair, taking your weight on your hands (still on the chair) and put your bottom on the floor. Then lift yourself up onto the chair again keeping your hands in the same place. It’s hard but by golly it gets rid of those flabby bits under your arms. Do this several times a day and increase the number as it gets easier. Don’t stop and rest on the chair either.
Eating After Exercise At about three in the afternoon I go to the gym, then when I came back I want to have something to eat. Is it alright to eat a piece of fruit straight after I have exercised for should I wait one hour?
Why wait? By all means eat straightaway. Eating after exercise is definitely recommended to keep your blood sugar levels balanced and replenished. Fruit is excellent for this because it not only gives you a slow blood sugar level rise, but also helps to replenish lost fluids. Have several pieces of fruit if you need to.
Vicki Martin RD, ND. Nutritionist, Naturopath
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A simple change in your diet can pave the way to many health benefits. Our nutritionist answers your questions...
rice, white pasta and noodles, cakes, biscuits, and sweets. 