What You Need To Know About Calories
/What is a calorie? A kilojoule? How is the calorie content of food measured? And how can I work out how many calories I need each day?
Read MoreEvidence-based nutrition and lifestyle advice to help busy people lead healthier, happier lives.
What is a calorie? A kilojoule? How is the calorie content of food measured? And how can I work out how many calories I need each day?
Read MoreLet’s take a look at the different nutrients in the food we eat.
Read MoreTo help my clients introduce a little more balance into their lives, I have created a checklist to keep front-of-mind, to help assess whether the scales are tipping too far in one direction or another: P E A C E
Read MoreHave you ever wondered why we eat the foods we eat? In an ideal world, we would always choose healthy, nutrient-dense foods to give our bodies the energy, macro- and micronutrients they need, in the amounts they need.
The first step to improving our nutrition and food choices (or any other habit, really) is to understand why we do what we do. A little bit of self-awareness can have a powerful, positive impact on our health and our lives. Knowledge is power, dahlinks! So let’s take a look at the twelve factors that can influence our food choices…
Read MoreThere is a difference between needing to lose weight to improve your health, and wanting to lose weight to fit some arbitrary aesthetic ideal. There are only two circumstances in which you actually NEED to lose weight. Let’s break it down.
Read MoreI’m declaring the month of November to be NO-vember! For the month of November and for the remainder of 2019, let's say a polite but very firm NO! to all of the people, situations and habits that drain us physically and mentally, and divert our energy from the things that are truly important to us; things like quality time with the people we love, self-care and pursuing our goals and dreams.
Read MoreI was asked this question by an overworked, overstressed lawyer friend recently.
I’m something of a “lay-expert” when it comes to health retreats. I have been to more than I can count over the last 20 years, in Australia and overseas, from basic to ultra-luxurious.
Recent research by travel company Expedia found that many of us don’t take advantage of our annual leave entitlements each year. And that’s not a good thing. Work-associated burnout is at pandemic levels among professionals, and is associated with a number of serious health issues including heart disease, mental health issues, type 2 diabetes, gastrointestinal issues, and even premature death. And taking a holiday when you need it can be a protective health factor. “Detatching from work” (the technical term used in the scientific literature) is considered an essential protective factor against burnout and its associated adverse health impacts. And taking time off work, whether for a few days or a few weeks, can be protective of our health, and particularly the health of our hearts. And the more relaxing the vacation, the better the health benefits.
In our daily lives, it’s all too easy to put work, family and the thousand-and-one things on our To-Do list ahead of the things we need to do to be healthy and happy. So in my book, anything that helps to remind us to put our health and wellbeing front-and-centre is a very good thing.
You don’t need to worry about food shopping or cooking, or making decisions about whether or when to exercise. And the temptations of sugary, salty snacks, booze and cigarettes are off the table.
A health retreat vacation can help you circuit-break unhealthy habits like salty or sugary snacks, smoking or opening a bottle of wine in the evening. And help you build healthy new habits like early morning exercise, meditation and getting to bed at a sensible hour.
Depending on where you choose, the daily rate can range from $400 to $1200 per night. Take a surf around a couple of booking sites to see what sort of amazing accommodation you can get for these prices. And the costs don’t stop there. Health retreats usually offer an array of massages and spa treatments, and many actually schedule time each day for guests to book treatments. And again, they are often much more expensive than the same service in your home suburb.
I used to love going to health retreats when I was a crazy-busy, stressed out lawyer. I especially enjoyed the seminars where we would learn about health and wellbeing. But these days, with a Masters degree in Nutrition, I can’t bring myself to sit through some of the bunk that is presented as “health information” at the health retreats I used to go to. Telling busy professionals to cut out entire nutritious food groups which will only push them into nutruent deficiency, or to make sure they include lots of the “good salt”, just makes me fume.
I’ve been to health retreats that were staffed by highly-qualified allied health professionals, and others where people with no qualifications at all were trying to bully me into expensive “treatments” no reputable professional would offer. Some of the “must-have treatments” offered by some health retreats are unnecessary and can be downright dangerous. I’ve been offered herb-infused colonics (with icky looking equipment), and an ayurvedic treatment where herbal oil is poured in my eyes. No thanks!!!
Not only are health retreats not like real life, they are often lightyears away from “normal life”. So the habits you start to build on your retreat may not work when you get back to your home environment. There is a very real danger that you will quickly revert back to your old habits once you leave the hyper-controlled health retreat environment.
If you can easily afford it, and you’ve never been to a health retreat, there’s no harm in trying one for a short stay to see if you like it. But make sure you do a little research first, read reviews and when you are there, be careful about the “treatments on offer”, and be very careful about taking any health advice - check with your doctor before making any drastic changes.
These days, I personally prefer to spend my “health and wellbeing” money on sessions with my exercise physiologist, on massages and beautiful fresh produce. And my “holiday” money on fabulous AirBnB’s where I can create my own healthy holidays!
Salvagioni DA, Melanda FN, Mesas AE, González AD, Gabani FL, de Andrade SM. Physical, psychological and occupational consequences of job burnout: A systematic review of prospective studies. PloS one. 2017 Oct 4;12(10):e0185781.
Sonnentag S, Fritz C. Recovery from job stress: The stressor‐detachment model as an integrative framework. Journal of Organizational Behavior. 2015 Feb;36(S1):S72-103.
De Bloom J, Geurts SA, Kompier MA. Vacation (after-) effects on employee health and well-being, and the role of vacation activities, experiences and sleep. Journal of Happiness Studies. 2013 Apr 1;14(2):613-33.
De Bloom J, Geurts SA, Sonnentag S, Taris T, de Weerth C, Kompier MA. How does a vacation from work affect employee health and well-being?. Psychology & Health. 2011 Dec 1;26(12):1606-22.
Entire shelves are devoted to them in bookstores, and online retailers offer thousands to choose from.
Depending on your age, chances are you will be familiar with all of the above diet books, or the diets they promote. And you may even have tried one or more of them too.
Even the ones with pages and pages of citations of scientific studies; when you scratch the surface, the claims just don’t add up.
And it gets confusing too. Because different diet books dictate different - usually very rigid - ways of eating. And more often than not, they demonise foods or food groups. Are carbs the devil? Or is it fat? Or “bad fats”? Or is it actually grains? Or gluten? Or plant lectins? Or animal protein?
Have you noticed that most of these books require you to follow the diet in “phases”? And that the first phase is incredibly restrictive? Yup, they set it up so that the diet “works”! So you can write your online review and tell your friends, I’m on week three and my pants are looser!
When it comes to diet books, there is very little “quality control”. If you are an expert in nutrition and want to publish an article in a medical or scientific journal, then you will first have to submit it for “peer review” - a group of qualified experts will subject the statements you make in your article to scientific scrutiny, including whether the studies you cite actually support the statements you make.
But there is no “peer review” process for diet and nutrition books. Publishing houses are experts in, well, publishing. They bring in teams of marketing and public relations experts to promote their books, not scientific experts to make sure the science stacks up. And this has allowed many diet book authors to make claims about how we should eat for weight loss or health benefits that are not backed up by the science.
I’m not saying all diet and nutrition books are bad. There are some great books out there, and I’m in favour of anything that helps to guide and remind us to make healthier choices. Books can be a great way to expand our knowledge, or remind us of what we need to do to live healthy, happy, long lives. Ans as a book lover, I’m not going to tell you to stop buying diet books. We all know that’s not gonna happen!
I’m so happy to have discovered this recently-launched website that does the work for us. A group of qualified scientists have given their time to test the science in a number of popular diet books. You can check it out at https://www.redpenreviews.org *
They only have a few book reviews on their site so far, but hopefully that will change over time, so we can have a great resource to check before we go healthy book shopping!
And in case you’re wondering, I have no affiliation with Red Pen Reviews or anyone involved with it. I have recommended it because I think it is a great resource.
Further reading:
https://www.vox.com/2016/3/24/11296168/down-with-diet-books
https://newsroom.niu.edu/2016/01/21/beware-the-lure-of-get-slim-quick-diets-niu-experts-say/
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/feb/20/a-history-of-diets-byron-52
They say sitting is the new smoking. But in my view it is much worse. Why? Because it is sooooooo ubiquitous. Pretty much every aspect of our lives is centred around sitting: our work, our travel, our leisure. Our society is structured in such a way that we need to make a special effort to reduce the amount we sit. And it's imperative for our health that we do!
Read MoreDid you know we have approximately 1kg of bacteria in our digestive system?!? Research is revealing that the balance of bacteria in our bodies can have a big impact on our health, our immunity and even our psychological wellbeing. So it pays to make sure we have LOTS of the healthy good guys in there fighting the good fight for us! How do we do this? There are three things we can do:
Read MoreIMPORTANT! Your health and wellbeing is way too precious to entrust to the internet!
All information provided on this website is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, mitigate, or prevent any diseases or disorders. It is not a replacement for a thorough examination and consultation from a licensed health professional. Consult your own physician regarding the treatment of any medical condition or for medical advice. NEVER disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking professional advice because of the information contained on this website.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL DISCLAIMER AND TERMS
Nutritionist, workplace wellness specialist and health coach in Sydney Australia.
Evidence-based tips and strategies to help successful people lead healthier, happier lives!