Subject: Nutrition Tips from Your Dietitian - November 2011
From: Sue Radd\'s Nutrition and Wellbeing Clinic <[email-masked]>;
To: [email-masked]
Date: Mon, 31 Oct 2011 14:46:45 +1000

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Issue 24, November 2011

Hello Valued Reader,

With Christmas around the corner, it’s important that you get your snacks right!  This month we’ll help you choose healthy snacks that won’t extend the waistline.  And come along to our cholesterol lowering cookshop where you’ll be inspired to cook more delicious meals to help bring down your cholesterol level!

What’s in the News – It’s Snack Time!

What do you choose for your snacks?  A magnum or yoghurt?  Chips or nuts?  Tim Tams or fruit?  Getting your snacks right is important when it comes to battling the buldge – successfully.

In the past you would have been told to focus on low fat snacks – nuts were definitely out of the question!  But more and more evidence is showing that nuts, although high in fat (of the good kind), can be safely incorporated into a weight loss program.  And they’ll probably help you achieve better results.

A recent study published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition compared the effect of snacking on nuts vs pretzels (the low fat option) for a weight loss diet.  Both diets provided the same number of kilojoules.  After 12 weeks, the group consuming nuts not only lost more weight, but also had significantly lower triglyceride levels!  Triglycerides are a type of fat found in your bloodstream, which are an independent risk factor for heart disease.

How is this possible?  For one thing, we now know that not all the fat in nuts is absorbed by the body, so you don’t get the entire calorie loading you’d expect.  Perhaps even more importantly, nuts can have a very valuable effect on your insulin level, by lowering the sugar raising effect of carbohydrate foods that you eat at the same meal.  In other words, nuts may help you better keep your insulin in check – a hormone linked to weight control – than low fat carbohydrate foods like pretzels.

So, be snackwise!  Talk to your dietitian about more healthy snack options that do the right thing to your hormones and don’t forget to ask about portion sizes.  Since most of us move less than people did years ago, try to make every mouthful count!

Health Tip

Beware that a few extra treats each week can easily add up to a couple of unwanted centimetres on your waistline.

What’s Cooking in November – More Clever Foods to Reduce Your Cholesterol

Is your cholesterol creeping up?  Or do you have a family history of heart disease?  Do you want to avoid taking lifelong pills or would you like to decrease your dose and make it more effective?

Come and try some delicious meals full of cholesterol lowering ‘portfolio foods’.  A diet focused on these superfoods has been clinically proven to lower your cholesterol by up to 30% - as much as a starting dose of some medications!

Join us on 22nd November from 6:30 – 8:30 pm and discover fun ways to keep your cholesterol in check.

This cookshop will feature totally new recipes, so you can see more yummy ways to harness the power of cholesterol lowering foods like eggplant, barley and nuts, to name just a few.  Ever tried cashew nut cream? You’ll love it!!

If you have diabetes, are overweight or have any risk factors for heart disease, this cookshop is ideal for you!

Learn more about this cookshop.

Call NOW on (02) 9899 5208 to book your place. Bring a friend!

What’s Fresh – Walnuts

Some say these tree nuts look like a brain?  Could they really be brain food?  And what about their heart benefits?  Like other nuts, walnuts have many health benefits.  Read on to find out how eating a handful of walnuts each day could help you stay well and live longer!

Walnuts have anti-inflammatory properties, which means they can help protect you from developing chronic diseases such as heart disease.  They are rich in polyunsaturated fats (the good ones) – including omega-3 – and supply a concentrated package of important nutrients, such as arginine and potassium.  These nutrients have been shown to help your heart and blood vessels stay in good shape.

Whole nuts, eaten 4-5 times per week or more compared to less than once weekly, have been linked in several very large studies with about a 50 % lower risk of heart attack!  Who would have thought food could be so powerful?  If cholesterol is your concern, incorporating a handful of walnuts in your daily diet will help you lower your LDL cholesterol – the bad one.

Walnuts are also a good source of fibre and protein.  For this reason, they play an important role in weight management, and can help you to feel fuller for longer, while dampening the effect of carbohydrates on your blood sugar levels.

As for the brain, there is some research to suggest that walnuts could enhance cognitive function (who couldn’t do with a boost?) due to their anti-inflammatory effects and the other beneficial impacts they exert on the tiny blood vessels in your grey matter!

Choose walnuts that look crisp and plump with a light skin colour or shell your own if you want real freshness.  Keep them in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 months or freeze to extend their shelf life.

3 ways with Walnuts

Sprinkle walnuts on your breakfast cereal each morning and on salads..

Add walnuts to healthy muffins, cakes or when baking .  Come along to this month’s cookshop and try  moist Pear, Walnut and Muscatel loaf.  Delicious!

Give this yummy dessert with figs, cinnamon, almonds and walnuts a go.

Clinic News – ‘Like’ us on Facebook

Are you on Facebook?  We are!  We’re sure you’ll ‘like’ our Culinary Medicine Cookshop page. Keep up to date with additional cookshop info, including exclusive information and photos from behind the scenes, as well as interesting nutrition tips from our dietitians.  Have you tried a new recipe or dined at a new restaurant lately?  Tell us what you like and what works for you.

Is Soy Good for Your Breasts?

Soy has been hailed as an anti-cancer food.  But should women with breast cancer avoid it?  And can it interfere with cancer medication?  Read a synopsis of the latest research findings on this important topic in Sue Radd's Food Matters column.

In the Kitchen – Paper or Plastic?

Do your groceries come home in a plastic bag, paper bag or ‘green’ bag?  Green bags, or recyclable bags definitely have advantages over both plastic and paper bags for our environment.  But have you ever gotten to the checkout and realised that you left your re-usable bags at home?  Here are some tips to help you make more of your bag choices environmentally friendly.

Why not keep a soft cotton tote bag in your handbag or briefcase?  It can fold up easily, taking little space.  That way you will always have a carry bag handy.

Keep a few recyclable bags permanently in the boot of your car, so you will have them handy should you decide to go grocery shopping on the way home.

Rather than using bags, select the box option (when available) and unload more easily into your car.

If you do end up acquiring plastic bags, reuse them to line garbage bins rather than buying special bin liners.

Dispose of plastic bags that you don’t need in special collection points at shopping centres and put your paper bags in the recycling bin.

Clinic News – Meet Our New Dietitian

Caroline Trickey comes to us with a wealth of experience beyond nutrition and dietetics, having previously also studied naturopathy and managed her own cafe and catering business for 12 years.  She is about to publish her own two healthy cookbooks and her passion and enthusiasm for good food is contagious!  Caroline will motivate you to try new things in the kitchen and improve the flavour and nutritional value of your meals.  If you are struggling to lose weight, if you have diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, PCOS or simply wish to eat better and improve your lifestyle, Caroline can help you!

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Published by the Nutrition & Wellbeing Clinic, Copyright 2011.

Suite 10, 80 Cecil Avenue, Castle Hill NSW 2154 Ph: 61 2 9899 5208 Fx: 61 2 9899 2848 www.sueradd.com

We are a boutique Dietitians clinic in Sydney, Australia, offering one-on-one consultations, culinary medicine cooking workshops, motivational health seminars and nutrition advisory services to businesses in the local and global area.

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