A recent Danish study which featured on the BBC showed that the calcium in dairy products will help you stay trim. A group of volunteers were put on a high calcium diet for a week and then those same volunteers were put on a low calcium diet for a week. Both diets had exactly the same daily calorie consumption and the same fat content. The results showed that 100% more fat was excreted by the volunteers on the high calcium diet versus the low calcium diet. The reason for this is because the calcium binds to the fat as it passes through your small intestine forming a soap like substance which is difficult for your digestive system to absorb. This means that the fat doesn’t end up on your waistline but instead ends up as human waste. Don’t be scared of of low fat dairy, a great option for your daily diet, but do not use this recent finding to justify full cream ice cream or custard tarts.
Does eating dairy based foods make you fat?
Lance Spice featured in the Western Outlook
Congratulations to Lance Spice for his feature story in the the Western Outlook, Leighton Contractors quarterly magazine, at the start of his health and fitness journey with Evolve Health. Lance started his training and diet plan on 5th September and has lost pretty close to 10 kg so far, more to come.
Is artificially sweetened good?
Artificial sweeteners have been around for decades in our bid to reduce calorie consumption. I asked Heather Mitchell, Dietician and Nutrition Manager for Metabolic Jumpstart for the pros and cons.
On the plus side they can play an important role preventing Type 2 diabetics by keeping the total carbohydrate intake low. However, she recommends consuming no more than one artificially sweetened product per day.
There is a newer school of thought that suggests your body reacts to the sweetener in a similar way to sugar and that they may actually cause insulin spikes. Insulin is a “storage” hormone and for a client who is looking at reducing body fat is not desirable at all. In addition to this there are unverified studies linking certain artificial sweeteners to brain tumors and cancer.
Our advice to clients is to consume nutrient rich, whole foods, not foods that are low calorie, low nutrient and artificial. If you a hooked on artificial sweeteners then consume in moderation.
Diet Planning for Success
Energy balance (calories in versus calories consumed) and the nutritional content of food are your key benchmarks to eating healthy. If you follow these basic dietary guidelines and follow them consistently you will achieve the success you are seeking:
- Eat plenty of fruit and vegetables. Go for a variety of colour and a variety of types of vegetables and fruit. Have a look at your meal before you eat it, how much colour do you see on your plate?
- Minimise pre-packaged food. If it comes in a packet or a jar then it cannot be 100% fresh, and fresh is best. Needless to say this can be very hard to follow, but once again, look at your meals as a whole and determine how much is fresh or not.
- If it‘s sweet then take note. Sweet means energy. Fruit is the exception here but even the quantity of high glucose fruit needs to be considered.
- One gram of fat contains more than twice the number of calories than one gram of carbohydrates or protein. This means that fat is energy dense. Some fats are essential (most plant based fats), and some fat is bad (saturated and trans fats) so type of fat is important. Reduce your saturated fats and ensure you are getting your essential fatty acids.
- Alcohol in its purest form has enough energy to fuel combustion but is completely empty from any nutritional value. Alcohol makes us feel good, it’s great socially but does nothing for us nutritionally and definitely needs to be kept to moderation.
At Evolve Health we work with 2 different Dieticians to ensure that our clients get the right level of dietetic support that they need (see “Team Evolve” on our website).For more information check out www.metabolicjumpstart.com but make sure you contact Evolve Health to register as you will receive the MJ+ program ($120/annum value) for free.
