Tag Archives: body weight

3 things you should know about dairy

October 5, 2016 By in Nutrition that works Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

To understand how dairy foods (milk, yoghurt and cheese) affect health, consider these 3 nutrition principles:

1. Foods are much more than negative nutrients.

Yes, dairy foods are typically rich in saturated fat. But consider recent scientific research:

The health benefits of dairy, including lower and higher fat ones, makes sense: dairy foods can contain magnesium, calcium, protein, riboflavin, Vitamin B12, conjugated linoleic acid, and fermentation by-products, including probiotics, prebiotics and bioactive peptides, too.

2. Moderation in all things.

The relationship between dairy and health changes according to the amount that is consumed. Consider:

  • The relationship between cheese and heart health appears to be somewhat curvilinear, with the healthiest intake around 40 grams.
  • Large quantities of dairy may slightly increase the risk of prostate cancer.

3. There is no perfect diet.

Instead, there are many different ways to eat healthily, and no ‘best’ recommendation with regards to dairy. Consider:

  • Our body adapts according to what we eat: it has long been known that the absorption of numerous minerals is improved when their intake is low.
  • Nutrients are typically found in array of different foods, and dairy is not required for adequate calcium intake (just consume other calcium rich foods), nor is milk required for optimal bone health.
  • Dairy is not an essential food group, and the health benefits associated with its consumption can be found from eating a variety of other foods, particularly minimally processed plants.

I’ve heard advice not to eat full cream dairy (it’s high in fat!), not to eat low-fat dairy (it’s high in sugar!), not to eat cheese (it’s high in calories!), not to have cow’s milk (it’s not fermented!), and not to eat any dairy at all (it’s not natural!).

Yet my interpretation of the nutrition research is that all can be compatible with good health; yet none are essential for it.

Eat more from what you do enjoy, and enjoy more from what you do eat.

Why a calorie is not always a calorie

September 5, 2016 By in Nutrition that works Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , 5 Comments

A calorie rich food is not always fattening, and a lower calorie food is not always less fattening. 

To demonstrate, consider these scientific findings:

  • Adding some calorie rich foods to your diet, such as nuts or olive oil, decreases waist circumference over several years.
  • Some other calorie rich foods, such as cheese, do not appear to be linked to weight gain over time. Yet some lower calorie foods, such as refined grains and potato, do.
  • Full-cream milk may actually reduce weight gain, whilst low-fat milk may not.
  • Diets high in calorie-rich foods can be better for body weight management than diets low in calorie-rich foods.

To understand this, consider the many ways a food can affect your energy balance, other than its calorie content. These include:

  • The amount of it you eat.
  • The other foods you might consume with it.
  • The foods from your diet it might displace.
  • How satisfied you feel during, and immediately after, eating it.
  • How full you feel several hours after eating it, and
  • The many ways it affects your bodies’ metabolic response, such as the resulting increase in your metabolic rate, the type and amount of hormones released to digest it, and how much your gut bacteria is fed by it.

In the short-term, weight loss is achieved by reducing calories, irrespective of food or diet.

But in the long-term, the regulation of body weight is far more complex. Some of the most calorie rich foods are among the healthiest foods that we can eat, and their consumption does not increase body weight in any way.

Much better than avoiding calorie rich foods, is to ask how you can consume more of your calories from health-promoting foods.

What is more important than sugar, saturated fat, carbohydrates and calories?

July 26, 2016 By in Nutrition that works Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 4 Comments

A banana is 13% sugar, and has a greater percentage of sugar than soft drink.

Yet the banana also contains potassium, magnesium, dietary fibre, Vitamin C and (when partially unripe) is one of the richest sources of resistant starch. It’s consumption, as part of a diet that contains a variety of other fruits, helps to protect you from heart disease and stroke, weight gain, and helps to prolong your life.

Cheese is typically rich in saturated fat, and has a very similar fatty acid content to butter.

Yet cheese also contains calcium, protein, magnesium, Vitamin B2 and Vitamin B12. It’s consumption lowers cholesterol when eaten in replace of butter, is not actually associated with weight gain, and may (slightly) help to protect you from cardiovascular disease and Type 2 Diabetes.

Extra-virgin olive oil and nuts are both extremely rich sources of calories and fat, and provide a denser source of both than a doughnut.

Yet both extra-virgin olive oil and nuts are very rich in monounsaturated fatty acids, phenols and other antioxidants. The liberal addition of these foods to the diet protects against both cardiovascular disease and Type 2 Diabetes (substantially), whilst also appearing to potentially reduce body weight and waist circumference.

Wholemeal bread is rich in rapidly-digested carbohydrates, and results in a greater spike to blood sugar than table sugar does.

Yet wholemeal bread also contains dietary fibre, Vitamin B1, Vitamin E, folate, various minerals and phytochemicals, particularly phenolic antioxidants. It’s consumption, as part of a diet containing a variety of other whole or fibrous grains, helps to protect you from Type 2 Diabetes, cardiovascular disease, bowel cancer, weight gain, and helps to prolong your life, too.

Why do we believe the presence of a ‘negative’ nutrient – whether it is sugar, saturated fat, carbohydrates or calories – means a food is unhealthy or fattening?

Much more important, is to look for the abundance of positive nutrients found in minimally processed foods, instead.

A Body Acceptance Manifesto

May 2, 2016 By in Love your body Tags: , , , , , , , , , 5 Comments

Body, more than anything, you must know you are both beautiful and enough. Exactly as you are, in this very moment.

The only words deserving of you come from a place of admiration and appreciation. Disgust, hate and fat have no place for you.

I wholeheartedly believe you are beautiful. Negative judgements – from others or my unconscious self – do not reflect you. I promise another perspective will not be given the power to undermine you.

I know that scales don’t define your worthiness. You are filled with an abundance of warmth, compassion and love. No number changes that.

I accept you will change, and that you will wrinkle, expand and sag. But know this will never change your beauty, nor how I feel about you.

I am aware there will always be slimmer, taller and more defined bodies than you. Yet your beauty is unique, and can never be diminished by the presence of another.

I commit to always being grateful for you, as you exist to always support and look after me. My words cannot express how much I admire you, or how thankful I am to have you.

I choose to feel pride and joy when sharing you. I will not hide you, or feel ashamed by you, when being with another. It is a privilege to give them the opportunity to admire and cherish you, exactly as I have learnt to.

Nutritious eating, regular exercise and adequate rest are not only aspirations for you. They are each daily practices. It is both my responsibility, and my privilege, to respect and nourish you.

Yet the greatest gift I can give you is my unconditional love. A love that supports you into becoming the best and healthiest version of you.

Although you may not be there yet, my admiration for you now is possible because I understand you are both a work of art, and a work in progress. Just as I am, too.

Body, I love you. All of you. Truly, deeply, unconditionally.

[Download and print the body acceptance manifesto for free, here.]

How you can eat less sugar and not lose weight

April 18, 2016 By in Nutrition that works Tags: , , , , , , , , , , 2 Comments

An important nutrition principle is the one of replacement: for every food (or nutrient) you remove from the diet, another usually takes its place.

One common limitation I see with many popular diets is that they fail to appropriately advise on replacement. Low sugar, low fat and low carb can each be effective for better health and body weight. But they can each be pointless exercises, too.

To demonstrate, consider these well established research findings:

  • Replacing sugar (and other carbohydrates) with protein reduces weight gain. Yet replacing sugar with other carbohydrates (starchy foods like white bread, rice and crackers), does not.
  • Replacing fat with protein and fibre reduces body weight. Yet replacing fat with carbohydrate, does not.
  • Replacing carbohydrate with polyunsaturated fat (found in sunflower, safflower and soybean oil, and a variety of nuts, seeds and oily fish) reduces heart disease risk. Yet replacing carbohydrate with saturated fat (found in some meats, dairy and butter), does not.

Talking about what to eat less of, matters. But talking about what to eat instead, matters even more.

Why the “healthy” weight may not be so healthy

January 27, 2016 By in Love your body Tags: , , , , , , 2 Comments

1. Healthy behaviours and healthy weights are not the same thing:

  • Overweight people who exercise and eat healthily develop excellent metabolic health, even if they are still an “unhealthy” weight.
  • Slim people who are inactive and eat poorly typically have poor health, despite their “healthy” weight.

2. Much of what contributes to body weight is actually healthy:

  • Many people who work out regularly will develop significantly greater muscle and bone mass, improve their health substantially, yet are at risk of becoming an “unhealthy” weight.
  • Not all body fat is associated with poor health, with more fat in some areas (such as the buttocks and hips) linked to better health.

3. Not accepting our current body weight is highly stressful:

  • Body weight has a strong genetic component, and I don’t know of a single person who has found weight loss to be an easy and stress-free process over the long-term.
  • Seeing yourself as an incorrect weight is a constant emotional stressor (consider that 9 in 10 formerly obese people would choose blindness (!) over being obese again).
  • Constant emotional stress predicts significantly poorer health and early mortality.

4. A large difference between your current and desired body weight is considered a better predictor of physical and mental health, than a large current body weight!

  • There is no clear bodily mechanism that directly links being overweight to poor health.
  • The association between weight and health differs between cultures who perceive the same body weights differently.

Yes, a clear association does exist between body weight and mortality for the population.

But how can one point to this data and accurately conclude that a single individual must be of a particular weight if they wish to be healthy? Especially when the association between weight and health is largely influenced by the way that we perceive our bodies.

Healthier, I think, to do more healthy behaviours, than to stress about needing to be a “healthy” weight.

6 myths we are told every time we watch The Biggest Loser

November 16, 2015 By in Love your body Tags: , , , , , , , , 3 Comments
  1. If I am overweight, there is something wrong and shameful about my body.
  2. If I am overweight, I need to lose weight to find confidence, happiness and self-worth.
  3. Weight loss is easy. If I can’t lose weight, there is something wrong with me.
  4. Extreme dieting and overtraining, even though they increase my risk of nutritional deficiencies and injury, are necessary practices because they result in weight loss.
  5. Weight loss is the most important outcome of exercise and eating.
  6. I am defined by the number I see on the scales.

Each of these assumptions are incorrect, ineffective and dangerous.

They do not just undermine why, and how, we should be striving to eat better and exercise more.

They also, very worryingly, reinforce the idea that changing who we are is a requirement for us to be self-accepting, confident and happy.

If you really think about it, why should this ever be true?

We now know that:

The Biggest Loser is now well over a decade behind the scientific world, which suggests that a better and healthier way to manage your weight in the long-term is, ironically, to stop making it all about your weight.

The desire to be the biggest loser undermines our ability to feel like, and be, a winner.

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