Day 31: Which of the 31 challenges are you going to continue?
Posted by kathryn in A Balanced Diet
It’s day 31. The final day in the series 31 Days to a Better Diet.
Over the last month we’ve tried new foods. Worked on strategies to reduce portion sizes. Discussed different ways to get organised. And worked on building a greater awareness of what you eat.
The central goal of the 31 Days to a Better Diet was of course to improve your diet. But I also aimed to highlight the small-scale, incremental changes you could make. It’s easy to put off eating well because changing your diet seems like a huge task. However if you make continual improvements to what you eat, no matter how small, you’re doing it. You’re making your diet better.
And over the last month, if you’ve followed along
- you will have eaten more vegetables
- become more aware of your hunger and eating patterns
- increased the variety of foods you eat
- reduced the size of your portions
- uncovered ways to make it easier to eat well when you’re busy
Today’s task
Your task for the final day of 31 Days to a Better Diet is to reflect back over the last month and ask yourself which of the challenges are you going to continue with?
Pick one or two of the challenges. They could be the ones you’ve most enjoyed or the tasks which will make the biggest difference to your diet. And continue doing them. Adapt these changes into your daily and weekly routine. Integrate them into your life, until they become normal for you.
Then you will have achieved the goal – your diet will be better.
Thank you
And I want to say a big, big thank you to everyone who has taken part. Your comments and progress reports have been interesting, enlightening and highly rewarding for me to read, both professionally and personally.
I’d also like to thank the wonderful guest writers, who have contributed so much to the 31 Days to a Better Diet series, giving their personal perspectives on eating well. Crabby McSlacker, Mike Kinnaird, Cassie Young, Sophie, Lucy, Lindsey Clare, Shauna Reid and Katrina. Thank you for your generosity.
Which of the tasks from 31 Days to a Better Diet are you going to continue with?
Images by G & A Scholiers, Benjamin Earwacker, Sanja Gjenero, Hannah Boettcher and Vika Valter.
Day 30: Wild minded
Posted by kathryn in Sustainablity
Today’s post is the final guest post in 31 Days to a Better Diet. I’m really delighted to feature Katrina from Kale for Sale – talking about being more aware of where you food comes from.
I’m a locavore. Not a wild eyed locavore as the New York Times recently referred to us but a wild minded consumer. I believed I could put healthier food on the table than what was manufactured or delivered from around the world to the corner store. And I was right. I could and I am. It’s the best thing I’ve ever done.
I never intended to be a locavore when I began reading labels and choosing the product made closer to home. It was just part of the lent of reducing my carbon footprint; letting go of far away brands I’d been married to for years. In the produce aisle I started buying apples from Washington instead of New Zealand. I’d skip international berries for citrus grown in state. I went cold turkey on bananas.
And then things got serious. I took the Eat Local Challenge to eat locally sourced food for the entire month of September. I’d identified a few store bought local foods and a farmers’ market but I had no idea if we could feed ourselves for a month.
The challenge became a series of choices. We let go of food with multiple ingredients. We began using oil and vinegar instead of bottled salad dressings. I made potato salad without mayonnaise for the first time. We ate home made salsa on mixed greens and arugula instead of chips.
We snacked on almonds, strawberries and figs; foods with single ingredients. We ate vine ripened melons and had yogurt with honey and brown scrambled eggs for breakfast. I made pots of heirloom variety beans, mashed potatoes, slow roasted tomatoes, honey sweetened applesauce.
I joined a CSA for weekly pick ups of food directly off the farm. I got creative. Nothing came in a jar ready to be heated and eaten. This was food untraveled, often with dirt still on its roots. We work, commute. We ate simple. Steamed and sauteed vegetables dressed with olive oil and sea salt were a staple. We ate salads tossed with a different combination every time, bits of cheese with ripe pieces of fruit.
I found a restaurant down the street that served from farms whose names I was beginning to recognize. We were supporting agriculture in our community and didn’t go without for a minute.
The biggest problem became not wasting food. I began freezing the extra. We started taking our lunches to work. We put a face to our food and each meal became a story. Eating manufactured food became unappetizing.
A year later the learning curve has relaxed. Ninety percent of our food is still local but I buy mayonnaise, occasionally drink a diet Coke. I’m learning how to can and have a better idea what seasonal items freeze nicely and taste good prepared on a cold winter day. I’m familiar with the different farmers’ markets and stores with local goods.
Aside from being healthy, our local diet has made me aware of what I put on the table. There are no hidden ingredients, no preservatives. No processing plants, warehouses or middlemen. We eat real food, often with a personal narrative. And then exclaim at how good it all is.
Is there a local food grower or producer in your area that you can support?
Choose at least two foods this week produced closer to home and give them a try. And don’t be surprised if the food comes with a story.
Katrina is a fourth generation native of Northern California and the locavore author of Kale for Sale. Unlike her Grandparents who grew kale for the chickens, she steams it up and calls it dinner.
Woman eating lettuce photograph by Vika Valter and flower photograph by Katrina.
Day 29: How big are your plates?
Posted by kathryn in A Balanced Diet
Today’s task in 31 Days to a Better Diet is one way of controlling the size of the portions of food you eat.
Not so long ago it seemed everyone was buying big white plates and bowls.
Presented on gleaming white plates, food does look beautiful. White plates highlight the colours and textures of what you’re eating, making herbs look greener, tomatoes brighter and citrus even more luscious.
However at home, big plates and bowls can encourage you to eat more.
A normal portion of food can get lost on a big plate, so you add a bit more and a bit more – until you’re eating far more than you need. The more you do this, the more this larger amount of food becomes “normal”.
Over the last couple of years I’ve been down-sizing the plates and bowls I use.
- We still have some large white plates, but instead of putting dinner on them I use them for a plate of vegetables to share.
- I use our large pasta bowls for salads at lunch-time when I can fill the cavernous space with vegetables.
- In contrast I often use dessert bowls for pasta – it’s a much better portion of food for me.
- I bought some small bowls, which have about a one cup (250ml) capacity. I use these for breakfast and fruit with yoghurt after dinner.
- If I’m making a dessert I’ll reduce the portion size and use small ramekins, cups or glasses. So you still get the flavour and delicious-ness, but without going overboard on the kilojoules
Do you need to down-size your plates?
Scales photograph by Benjamin Earwacker and bowls photograph by Marc Garrido i Puig.
Day 28: Try some legumes
Posted by kathryn in Legumes
Today’s task in 31 Days to a Better Diet is aimed at increasing the variety of foods you eat.
A common food group that people miss out of their diet is legumes.
Lentils, chickpeas, red kidney beans, white beans are just not a regular feature of most peoples’ diet. A little bit of hummous here and there, maybe some lentils in a soup – but for most people, that’s about it.
Which is a shame, because legumes are a wonderful source of nutrition. Protein, low GI carbohydrates, fibre, Omega 3 essential fatty acids along with stacks of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. If you’re not eating legumes you’re missing out.
Not today. Because today’s challenge in 31 Days to a Better Diet is to include some legumes in one of your meals.
How to include legumes
Go ahead and eat some legumes.
How are you going to use legumes today?
Cereal photograph by Sanja Gjenero and chickpeas photograph by storm_gal.
Day 27: Order a side of salad or vegetables
Posted by kathryn in Vegetable recipes
Today’s task in the 31 Days to a Better Diet is centred around getting you to eat more vegetables.
Eating out can be a wonderful experience. Someone else does the cooking, you have the opportunity to eat something delicious you wouldn’t make at home. A glass of wine, some lovely conversation, all while re-connecting with friends and loved ones. And if you only eat out occasionally then it’s a treat: time to relax, enjoy and order dessert.
However if eating out isn’t a rarity you might need to re-consider your approach. If you’re dining out or getting take-away several times a week, then it’s no longer a treat. Along with porridge for breakfast and a sandwich for lunch, eating out is part of your regular food routine.
Eating more vegetables when dining out
One of the food groups which people often forget when dining out is vegetables. If you’re eating out regularly and vegetables are not part of the meal, you’re missing out.
I realise it’s often tricky. Very few dishes are centred around vegetables. Instead they revolve around meat, fish or carbohydrate based foods like pasta and pizza. Plus many restaurants don’t serve vegetables as part of the “meal” and it’s easy to forget to order them. However if you’re just eating steak and mash, you’re not getting a balanced meal.
Therefore today’s challenge in the 31 Days to a Better Diet series is for the next time you eat out – to boost your vegetable content by ordering a side dish.
Choose a salad, some green beans or even some basic steamed vegetables. Order an entree that is vegetable-centric or share dishes with your dining companions and get one vegetarian meal between you.
Improve your diet by making vegetables part of your regular dining out experience.
What vegetables do you eat at restaurants?
Berries photograph by G & A Scholiers.
Limes & Lycopene newsletter
Posted by kathryn in Blogging
Today’s post in the 31 Days to a Better Diet series is on it’s way . . .
Meanwhile I wanted to post a quick note for new readers about the Limes & Lycopene newsletter. The next edition of this free newsletter is going out later this week and you may be interested in subscribing.
What’s in the newsletter?
The newsletter contains a round-up of the last month’s posts, as well as information on what’s coming up on Limes & Lycopene.
And if you’ve been enjoying the 31 Days to a Better Diet series, you’ll enjoy the newsletter’s homework section. Each issue includes a task or challenge. Something you can do today or this week, to improve the way you eat. It might be an eating tip, a food awareness exercise or trying a new food.
It’s very similar to the focus and tone of the 31 Days series, but less intense.
How to sign up
If you’d like to receive the Limes & Lycopene monthly newsletter be aware it’s a two-stage sign up process.
To sign up click here. Once you’ve clicked submit you’ll be sent an email which contains a verfication link. You need to click on this link to complete your subscription. If you don’t receive the verification email, then check your spam or junk folder.
Photograph by MJM.
Day 26: Tricks & treats
Posted by kathryn in A Balanced Diet and Snacking
Today in 31 Days to a Better Diet I have a guest post from Shauna Reid of The Amazing Adventures of Dietgirl.
Shauna’s wise words are about a different approach to the tricky subject of treat foods.
There was once a time when the right time for a treat was any time and the right treat was any treat. That was one of the reasons why I wound up with 80 excess kilograms on my body.
I’ve always believed that a life without chocolate is not a life worth living, but in order to shed that weight and maintain my loss I had to reinvent the way I treated my treats. Here’s how I did it.
1. I identified what really tickles my taste buds
I used to reach for the communal cookies at work just because they were there. I felt compelled to eat the last piece of cake so it didn’t feel lonely. Seconds later I’d be full of remorse and thinking, “I really didn’t enjoy that”.
So I sat down and made a list of my favourite foods – all the things that filled my senses and left me truly satisfied. Instead of just writing “chocolate”, I specified particular brands or recipes. It sounds like a dorky thing to do, but it’s helped me to make more mindful choices. I remind myself that there’s a big difference between my grandmother’s homemade caramel slice and the cheap supermarket one that tastes like sand. I can now look objectively at a buffet spread and ask, “Is that what I really want? Is that crappy Snickers bar going to hit the spot?” Most times the answer is no.
2. I miniaturised my treats
Once I’d defined what was worth the calories I started shrinking the portions.
Instead of buying a litre of my favourite ice cream I now buy a single serve tub. Even when the 100g block of Green & Blacks chocolate is on sale I still buy a modest 35g bar. It’s been challenging to undo my mother’s conditioning – she always stocked up the pantry when things were On Special! But it’s hardly economical for the wallet or the waistline to buy more than you need. If there’s half a tub of ice cream left in the freezer I’m just going to pine for it all day long, so I find it easier to stick to individual portions.
3. I dealt with my danger zones
I figured out that my weakest time is the wilderness hours between my afternoon snack and dinner. I try to fill that space with exercise, but sometimes I’m stuck at work or waiting around for a train. That’s when I’m most likely to be dazzled by the snack display at the newsagent. To counter that I always carry an Emergency Handbag Ration – usually a healthy cereal or fruit bar like Fruitus or Nakd. At first I tried to be noble and take an apple or banana, but the sight of a battered piece of fruit at 5PM just made me more likely to surrender to the junk. The fruit bars are wholesome but sweet enough to satisfy until I get home.
4. I learned to savour every bite
I used to eat a bag of chips at my desk or mindlessly munch M&Ms at the movies. I’d end up looking down at an empty packet and wondering, “Where did they go!?” But now that my treats are small and less frequent, I make sure I treasure them. I really pay attention to the moment. Friday night is my favourite treat time, because the working week is behind me and there’s nothing else I should be thinking about. I chill out on the couch and relish my wee bar of chocolate, one square at a time. Then the next morning I can wake up and think fondly, How about that great chocolate I ate last night?
How are you going to change your approach to treats today?
Shauna Reid is the author of The Amazing Adventures of Dietgirl, out now from Corgi Books. She’s been blogging since 2001 at www.dietgirl.org.
Scales photograph by Benjamin Earwacker cream egg photograph by Sam Veres.
Day 25: How many different foods can you eat in one day?
Posted by kathryn in A Balanced Diet
Today’s task in 31 Days to a Better Diet is aimed at increasing the variety of foods you eat.
Back in May I spent some time blogging about the importance of variety in your diet. As part of that series, I kept a record of the number of different foods I ate over four days.
Many people end up eating a limited range of foods.
Breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks revolve around the same foods every day. The weekly shopping includes a limited list of products. At the greengrocers, broccoli, carrots, potatoes are always in the basket – no matter what the season.
As I’ve said before eating a variety of foods is the simplest way to ensure you’re getting all the nutrients and antioxidants you need. So if you’re always buying and eating the same things you’re missing out.
Today’s task
Your challenge today is to include as many different foods in your day as possible. I’m not asking you to over-eat, but how much variety can you pack into one day?
If you want to know more read the post how many different foods do you eat?. Otherwise start counting and come back tomorrow to let us know your food list.
How many different foods can you eat in one day?
Cereal photograph by Sanja Gjenero.
Day 24: Hang the expense and buy your favourite fruit
Posted by kathryn in Shopping Basket and Fruit
Today’s task in 31 Days to a Better Diet is aimed at encouraging you to eat more fruit.
A common complaint from clients is they buy fruit each week, only to throw it out seven days later, uneaten and well past it’s prime.
Often on further questionning it becomes apparent the problem is they are uying fruit they don’t particularly like.
Apples, oranges, pears when good quality, ripe and in season are wonderful. Sweet, juicy and glorious tasting. Unfortunately though they’re often not like this. Instead they are too often bland and pedestrian.
However their cheap price means people stock up, knowing they should be eating fruit. Then throughout the week the fruit-eating resolve waivers and almost any other food looks more appealing. Come the weekend the apple has been carried to and from work five days in a row; the pear is over-ripe and festering; while you can never quite be bothered to peel that orange.
This is false economy – a double waste. If it doesn’t get eaten you’re not saving money and you’re not getting the nutritional benefits.
Today’s task
Therefore today’s task in the 31 Days to a Better Diet is to forget the cheap, budget fruit. Instead splash out and buy the stuff you really, really like.
Buy the strawberries, raspberries and blueberries. Get some figs, a mango. Choose delicious frozen fruit if these aren’t in season near you.
This week buy the best fruit you can afford and then savour it, luxuriate in it. Enjoy every single mouthful. And remind yourself that you do like fruit after all.
What fruit are you going to buy this week?
Berries photograph by G & A Scholiers figs photograph by Amanda Rudkin.
Day 23: Compile a Clever Shopping List
Posted by kathryn in Shopping Basket
Today in 31 Days to a Better Diet I’m delighted to have another guest post. Welcome to Lindsey from Oh Sunday School. She has a perspective on making it easier to eat well by organising your shopping.
My tip for a better diet is not a specific food or recipe, it’s a method. Now, I know that the concept of being organised can scare the pants off some folk (hello husband!), but if this way of shopping works for you like it did for me, then I can promise it will save you time, money and effort as well as ensuring that you eat well.
How do you create a Clever Shopping List?
Just take these steps:
- Collect your recipes. Whether they are quick print-outs of Taste.com.au or your favourite Jamie Oliver book, get your recipes printed, collated, bound if you like, and then put them on a shelf all together. This is where you will go to for inspiration each week.
- Write up your meals. The day before you do your shopping, sit down with your recipes and write down a meal for each day. try to pick a variety of meals but if you are clever enough, use up each fresh ingredient by using it in more than one recipe. (e.g. if you purchase coriander for a Vietnamese salad, list a curry for later in the week to use up the rest of the herb). Do this simultaneously with the next step . . .
- Write your shopping list. Referring to your chosen recipes, write down all the ingredients you will need to purchase. I go one step further in the attempt to be organised, and write my shopping list in four columns: one for fresh fruit and veg, one for dairy/bread, one for tinned/packaged foods, and one for cleaning products/toiletries. This is essentially the way that my supermarket is laid out, which makes for a much quicker zoom through! (Because who likes hanging around Coles for an hour on a Monday night? Not me!)
- Do a stocktake. This only takes 60 seconds! Do a quick scan of your pantry and fridge. Add to your list anything that is running low so next time you are caught out, you still have plenty of good, nutritious foods to create meals with, preventing you from resorting to takeaway.
And there you have your list: complete and categorised.
The benefits of Clever Shopping Lists
Trust me, it sounds a bit tedious but it gets easier. Once you’ve done this for a few weeks, you will become much quicker and adept at writing up your list. Firstly, you will get to know what ingredients are needed for the recipes you like, and secondly you will get to know your own cupboards and what you need to stock up on or use up. Eventually you will find that it only takes around twenty minutes or so, once a week, to consult your recipes, write down a bunch of meals, and compile your clever shopping list.
The benefit of shopping from a list is, in my mind, massive. It means that I am much less likely to make impulse purchases of foods that I don’t really need or aren’t very good for me, it means that I am guaranteed to have enough food in the house to create fresh, healthful and appealing meals every day, and it means that I spend much less time wandering the supermarket trying to find inspiration!
Put together a Clever Shopping List this weekend and see how it changes the way you eat
Lindsey Clare is from Sydney and blogs about photography, design, food and the everyday at Oh Sunday School.
Shopping list photograph Hannah Boettcher.
Day 22: What's the best breakfast for you?
Posted by kathryn in Breakfast
Today’s task in the 31 Days to a Better Diet centres around awareness and making your diet work for you.
Breakfast is an important meal. It provides your body with fuel and nutrients, after the overnight food free period. A good breakfast can also set you up for the day: stabilising blood sugar levels, and keeping your mood and energy more even-keeled.
But I’ve found that different breakfasts work better for different people.
You can see this in my family. My mum is a confirmed porridge eater – anything else just doesn’t keep her going. While dad and Richard both swear by muesli. For them, a morning without muesli means they’re ravenous all day.
Whereas for me, if I eat porridge, cereal, fruit and yoghurt, a smoothie – I’m hungry within two hours, maybe less. Instead my best breakfasts include either eggs or some heavy-duty wholegrain toast with cottage cheese or hummous. If I can have one of these two, then I’m set for 4 – 5 hours.
What’s the best breakfast for you?
Many people struggle to have breakfast and most people go for something which is easy and simple. It’s the convenience of the meal, more than it’s nutrition, which is the primary consideration.
I understand this. But without a bit of experimentation you may be selling yourself short.
Over the next few days your task is to experiment with some different breakfasts. Are you better with toast or cereal? If it’s cereal, does the type you’re eating make a difference? Which keeps you going for longer, baked beans or vegemite on your toast? Does adding an egg help? Or are you better with a liquid breakfast, like a smoothie?
Plan a different breakfast each day and track how you feel, and how long before you get hungry?
Some breakfast suggestions
If you’re stuck about what to eat, then why not try these comparisons:
- Muesli with yoghurt & fruit vs a smoothie with oats & fruit
- Wholegrain toast with vegemite or jam vs hummous & sliced tomato
- Weetbix or cornflakes vs porridge with sultanas & honey
- Baked beans on toast vs fruit & yoghurt
- A spinach & mushroom omelette vs porridge with banana & walnuts
- Cooked barley or brown rice with fruit vs wholegrain toast & cottage cheese
- Jam & banana sandwich vs raisin toast with ricotta & honey
Experiment over the next few days and let us know what’s your best breakfast?
Surprised woman eating lettuce photograph by Vika Valter, cornflakes by Just Maria, berry smoothie by terriseesthings and boiled egg by sidereal.
Day 21: Re-try a vegetable you don't like
Posted by kathryn in Vegetables
Today’s task in the 31 Days to a Better Diet is centred around getting you to eat more vegetables.
A while ago a reader commented she was re-trying some vegetables – ones she’d avoided in the the past, because she didn’t like them. A few years on, cooked differently and tried again, she was finding she actually enjoyed some of these hated foods.
So my challenge to you today is to re-try a vegetable you don’t like.
But I don’t like it
We all have different tastes, and these build up over time. As we try a new food, we make a judgement about whether we like it or not – which dictates whether we eat it again.
However, our taste buds change over time. There are foods I like now, which I couldn’t stand several years ago. For example I used to hate olives and coffee – but now they are two of my favourite flavours. If I hadn’t re-tried them at a later stage, I would never have realised how much I enjoyed them.
Moreover the first time we taste a food, it’s affected by how the food is prepared. Trying it again, prepared in a different way, can lead to a change in our enjoyment. Again, a personal example is carrots. While I eat them, I find carrots really dull. However recently I cooked them with arame, according to Lucy’s recipe and they were delicious. A revelation.
Today’s task
Today’s task therefore is to pick a vegetable you don’t like and try it again.
There are several things you can do, to change your experience of the vegetable:
- Cook it in a different way from before – try roasting in the oven, or grating and eating raw in a salad
- Toss the vegetable in an interesting dressing, like a tahini dressing or use olive oil and good balsamic
- Sprinkle with fresh. tangy herbs
- Barbecue the vegetable, and see how that affects the flavour
- Use it in a soup or stew
Or if your stuck for ideas, leave a comment below and we’ll see if other readers have suggestions.
Which vegetable are you going to re-try today?
Berries photograph by G & A Scholiers baby corn photograph by clayirving.
Day 20: Make a list of foods for your work pantry
Posted by kathryn in Shopping Basket
Today’s task in the 31 Days to a Better Diet is centred around planning and making it easier to eat well at work.
Taking your lunch to work each day is a fundamental routine which both saves money and leads to better eating. Lunch from home is likely to be lower in fat, sodium and kilojoules than the vast majority of food hall fare.
However many people make the mistake of taking a boring lunch to work. While some bread, a bit of lettuce and a tin of tuna might seem like a good, healthy idea in the morning, by the time lunch comes around it’s going to look more and more humdrum. And an unappealing lunch is unlikely to keep you on the nutritional straight and narrow.
In the rush to get ready and out the door, there isn’t always time in the morning to consider your lunch-time appetite and put together a varied, interesting meal. So one of the bits of homework I often give to clients is to come up with work pantry list and that’s what I want you to do today.
Set up a pantry at work
A work pantry is a collection of foods you keep at work. You can store them at your work station, in a draw or cupboard. If your work has fridge, this expands the range of foods you can keep and also means you can use the freezer.
Everybody’s list is different. But it’s really important you like the foods on your pantry list. If you enjoy these foods, you’re simply more likely to eat them at lunch-time and not be distracted by take-away.
Your work pantry list could include:
- Wholegrain bread and crackers
- Little packets of mixed nuts and seeds
- Hummous, baba ghanoush or other dips
- Bags of mixed leaves
- Baked beans
- Tins of fish
- Frozen vegetables
- Home made muffins
- Tins of chickpeas, lentils or 3-bean mix
- Small packets of cream cheese or cottage cheese
- Olives, sun-dried tomatoes and other marinated vegetables
- Pickled onions
- Yoghurt
- Fresh, dried and tinned fruit
- Muesli or other cereals – if you struggle with breakfast in the morning
- Containers of soup for the freezer
Other tips
Taking a few plastic containers or ziplock bags to work can make it easier to keep foods fresh. You can also freeze spare portions of those foods with a shorter shelf-life.
While it might seem a bit adolescent, I also encourage clients to write their name on containers – it reduces the likelihood of colleagues’ pilfering your food.
Obviously it’s not enough to just make the list – you actually have to buy these foods as well. Make some time over the weekend, or during lunch-time, to go to the supermarket and buy the foods. And get in the habit of doing this regularly, so your work pantry stays well-stocked.
Tell us what’s on your work pantry list
Shopping list photograph by Hannah Boettcher.
Day 19: Eating before drinking
Posted by kathryn in A Balanced Diet
I’m totally delighted to have Sophie from Mostly Eating guest blogging today.
Sophie has some wise words about controlling those alcohol fused food blow-outs.
Does this sound like a familiar scenario? You’ve had a wonderfully healthy week, brimming with fruit and vegetables, splendidly low fat and wholegrain-tastic. What better way to round off the week than with a quiet drink with your friends, or maybe just a few glasses of wine at home.
Fast forward and it’s the end of the evening and you’ve drunk a few (or many more) units than planned and eaten a deep fried dinner with three times the calories of your normal evening meal.
Your secret weapon to avoid this scenario is to have a small snack about half an hour before any alcohol passes your lips.
Why does this work?
- Having some food in your stomach slows down how quickly your stomach empties. When you drink alcohol not long after eating a meal or snack the alcohol takes longer to get from your mouth to your bloodstream
- Alcohol lowers the level of glucose in your blood stream which in turn makes you feel hungry (remember that slight dizzy feeling and the urge to buy extra large packets of crisps?). A small snack before you start to drink gives you a bit of a buffer before you start to feel really hungry.
Five great reasons to have a snack before you drink:
- You will feel the effects of the alcohol much less quickly, increasing your ability to choose food wisely and regulate your alcohol intake across the evening
- The booze munchies will descend more slowly, giving you more willpower to choose something moderately healthy for dinner
- You will be protecting your long term health; the risk of heart disease, diabetes, stroke, mental health problems and certain cancers all go up with excessive alcohol intake
- Alcohol is the gift that keeps on giving; this is an excellent way to avoid a hangover
If you are trying to lose weight it might seem very tempting to skip your pre-alcohol snack but I promise you it will earn its calories back. I’m suggesting that you take in an additional 150kcal (600kJ) or so; all this snack needs to do to have earnt its place is to keep you that bit more sober so that you have one less drink or choose the pasta with tomato sauce rather than the full fat cream sauce. Remember too that alcohol can easily lower your blood glucose levels well into the next day, leaving you hungry and susceptible to bad food choices.
Easy pre-drink snacks
If you can, try to choose solid foods which slow down the absorption of alcohol into your bloodstream more than liquid foods.
- A slice of toast with peanut butter or jam
- Yogurt with fruit
- A few oatcakes with hommous
- A small bowl of cereal
- A small sandwich (one slice of bread is fine) with low fat filling
Try eating a pre-drink snack before going out this week – and let us know how you feel the next day
Sophie is a nutritionist from Oxford, England, where she lives with her husband and two cats. At Mostly Eating Sophie writes about fitting together healthy eating and sustainable food choices.
Scales photograph by Benjamin Earwacker and greasy breakfast by Ronny Stephan.
31 Days to a Better Diet: The roundup days 1 - 14
Posted by kathryn in A Balanced Diet
It’s now well into the second half of August, which means we’re also over half way through the 31 Days to a Better Diet series. How is everyone going?
Welcome to all the new readers. If you’ve just tuned in to Limes & Lycopene you may be interested in subscribing to my monthly email newsletter. You can sign up here. You can also add Limes & Lycopene to your RSS reader – the feed address is here.
We’re half way through a month of posts on the topic of how to make your diet better. It’s not about broad, sweeping changes. Instead every day I’m suggesting a smaller, more easy to implement challenge designed to change what you eat and make your health better.
What’s happened so far.
In the introductory post I asked you to make a commitment.
Over the next month, how much time do you realistically have to make changes to your diet? It’s easy to over-commit and end up disappointing yourself, when you don’t follow through.
Being realistic is an important part of changing your health.
It’s easy to lose track of what you’re eating. You may think your diet is full of vegetables and well balanced, but is it really as good as you think?
When changing your diet it’s important to get a clear picture of what you’re doing now, so challenge number two was to record everything you eat for seven days.
Eating a variety of foods is important. It’s the easiest way to ensure you’re getting all the nutrients you need.
There are so many wonderful foods out there, it’s a shame to restrict your eating to the same foods week in and week out. On day 3 I asked readers to eat something from a food group they rarely consume.
In my opinion, one of the most useful things for making it easier to eat well at work is a stockpile of plastic containers. These make it easier to take your lunch to work.
Which saves money, but also means you can control what you eat and avoid the high fat, high sugar, high sodium options found in most food halls. Get some plastic containers.
I’m delighted to have some guest writers on board, giving their own tips on eating well. The first is from Crabby McSlacker of Cranky Fitness, talking about ways to make a salad more interesting:
“I’ve learned to include ingredients I really like that may not be super low-cal, but are healthy and filling and make a salad something to look forward too”.
A post asking what are your hunger signs? It may seem like a funny question, but many people don’t know when they’re hungry, which is a problem. If you’re day is structured you may never get to the point where you’re actually hungry. People also mistake other signs for hunger, such as dehydration and tiredness.
On day 6 the task was to get acquainted with your hunger signs.
A task designed to increase cooking skills and confidence: take an ingredient from the back of your pantry and include it in dinner. Using up ingredients from the cupboard is a great way of increasing the scope of your diet. You already have the ingredient in the house. You’ve already been persuaded to eat that food. Now you just need to cook it.
A reminder to take some time over your meals. If you gobble down your food, thinking about everything but what you’re eating, how can you possibly be satisfied with your food?
This challenge was to switch off the TV, eat away from your desk, use a knife and fork. Savour, enjoy your food and spend some time over your meals.
This task was the second guest post in the 31 Days to a Better Diet series. This time from Mike Kinnaird of Habit Guide. Mike’s suggestion is to create a structure to your diet
This can be repeated each day and provides a simple framework, which takes the guesswork out of nutrition. Save yourself some time and create a structure.
Fitting all the vegetable serves into a day can seem overwhelming. However it’s much easier, if you spread the vegetables out. Adding a few to all your meals and snacks sets you up to easily reach the five a day target.
The challenge on day 10 therefore, was to include vegetables in every meal . . . even breakfast.
You might understand that criticism from others can affect your confidence. But did you know criticism from yourself can be even more damaging?
Negative self-talk can be constant and unrelenting, distorting your perceptions and making you feel bad. This post is about tuning in to your self-talk about food.
Another guest post, this time from Cassie of Veggie Meal Plans.
“I’ve learned to keep convenient vegetables and fruits on hand so I can add them to my plate with minimal effort. I don’t always have the energy to tackle fresh artichokes, but usually manage ten seconds to slice a cucumber to put on the side of a bowl of chilli.” Add more fruit and vegetables to your plate.
To avoid food becoming too much of a routine, my suggestion in this challenge was to flip your diet and _spend the day doing the opposite. Every time you eat something ask yourself what would I normally do – and then make a different choice.
Do the opposite, or just do something different. Get out of your routine and your comfort zone and flip your diet.
One easy way to increase the variety of foods you eat, is to change your bread.
Choosing a different loaf means you’re still eating a food you know and are used to, but you’re also adding to your nutrient intake. It’s a simple way to get that little bit more variety in what you eat. Don’t go for the same old thing, choose a different bread.
Others blogging about the 31 Days to a Better Diet series
A number of bloggers have been tracking their response to the challenges online.
How did you find the first half of 31 Days to a Better Diet?
Images by G & A Scholiers, Benjamin Earwacker, Sanja Gjenero, Hannah Boettcher and Vika Valter.
Day 18: Oomph up your breakfast
Posted by kathryn in Breakfast
Today’s task in 31 Days to a Better Diet is centred around getting more variety in your diet. This group is marked by the image to the left.
One of the easiest ways I’ve found to increase the variety of foods I eat is to oomph up my breakfast.
It seems almost contradictory. You’re rushing around in the morning, trying to get to work and yet it’s relatively easy to increase your nutritional diversity, without too much bother.
Some fruit, a sprinkling of nuts, some slices of cucumber, a dollop of yoghurt. All take seconds to add to what you’re eating, yet all yield high nutritional benefits.
Today’s task
So today’s challenge in 31 Days to a Better Diet is to find one different food to add to your breakfast. Some examples of what you can do are:
- Add some fruit to your cereal by slicing up a banana or spooning on some tinned peaches
- Stir sultanas and dried apricots into porridge and use maple syrup instead of sugar
- Use a different bread for toast, one that includes seeds and grains
- Scatter nuts and seeds, or even a sprinkling of LSA.
- Use a different milk – don’t always opt for cow but try soy, rice, oat or almond
- Spoon over some yoghurt
- Spread hummous or cottage cheese on toast, instead of butter and top with slices of tomato or cucumber
- Add dried fruit and walnuts to a smoothie.
All of these are easy to do and will only add seconds to your morning routine. But most importantly they are boosting the nutritional scope of your diet. Along with changing your bread in my opinion it’s one of the easiest ways to increase the variety of foods you eat.
How are you going to oomph up your breakfast today?
Cereal photograph by Sanja Gjenero.
Day 19: How many types of sugar are in your food?
Posted by kathryn in Food Labelling
Today’s task in 31 Days to a Better Diet is centred on improving your awareness of what you eat. And today we’re talking about food labelling.
If you’re buying food in a packet, it’s likely to contain more ingredients than you’d think.
Some of this is logical. To get a food to retain its shape, flavour, texture and stay fresh for more than a week, manufacturers have to add flavour enhancers, preservatives, gums, texturisers.
Manufacturers also want you to buy their product. And they know we humans love the flavour and textures of salt, sugar and fat. The more of these three they can add, the more likely you are to choose their product over a competitors.
However, they also know most people are trying to reduce the amount of salt, sugar and fat in their diet. One method used to disguise the presence of these three is to use different forms. Several different sugars, under several different names can make it difficult for unwitting shoppers to know exactly what’s in the food they’re eating.
Today’s task
Today’s challenge in 31 Days to a Better Diet is to pull three products out of your cupboard and see how many different sugars they contain.
Take a look at the ingredients list and see how many of the following words and phrases you can find:
- sugar
- honey
- malt
- sucrose
- molasses
- glucose syrup
- fructose
- dextrose
- corn syrup
- golden syrup
- high fructose corn syrup
- almost anything ending in the letters -ose
All these ingredients are, or contain, sugar. So while a product may list the word sugar low down on the ingredients, if it contains any of these other ingredients, it’s not as low in sugar as it seems.
How many types of sugar can you spot?
Surprised woman eating lettuce photograh by Vika Valter and sugar photo by p3nnylan3.
Day 16: Something new, each week
Posted by kathryn in Shopping Basket and Vegetables
This Saturday is another guest post. This time I’m chuffed to have Lucy from Nourish Me on board, with an excellent strategy for including more vegetables in your diet.
Shopping is a strange business. Shoes may be your thing, or perhaps it’s the chase for that elusive pair of perfect jeans – the kind that manage to make you look both long of leg and narrow of bottom; for others still, a cavernous bookshop holds hours of possibility, but for me, there is nothing quite like the thrill of finding a new vegetable.
Over the last few years this passion, the result of a deeper need for change, is the single, simple, defining factor in the improvement of my health. Always a confident sort of cook, adopting an adventurous attitude to the buying of vegetables seemed, well, natural. An easy, achievable goal for lasting dietary change. Going slowly was key.
Each time I shop, I slip something new, to me, into the basket. An abiding distaste for the earthy sweetness of the humble beetroot was as good a beginning as any. Prejudice is a notoriously difficult thing to conquer, but the simple act of taking on something new, something challenging, and running with it made me not only a better cook, but a healthier and more appreciative consumer, too. Delightful, added bonuses from small, simple change.
It is easy to fall into ruts; to mechanically reach out for the same things, rushing, as we do, through busy lives. But Variety, well, she really is the spice of life. Though the weird and wonderful are seductive – lotus roots and ginkgo nuts are exotic, rare creatures worth working toward – conquering even the most pedestrian of veg can be immensely rewarding. The same sweetness that once made beetroot so unlovable, tamed and balanced, is something I now crave. Love the stuff. Even those beautiful leaves. No, especially those beautiful leaves.
So, a challenge. To try one new something this week. Bring home one fresh vegetable with which you are unfamiliar. It must be fresh, so don’t hesitate to sniff, to squeeze, to prod and use all your senses when choosing. Promise, out loud, to use it if not tonight, then definitely tomorrow.
Over to you.
Resources
There are some great recipe resources online:
The Stephanie Alexander classic, The Cook’s Companion, is an incredibly valuable, comprehensive tool worth seeking out, or requesting for a special occasion. Though expensive it is, without doubt, the single most useful book in my ever-expanding collection . . .
What new vegetable are you going to try today?
Lucy from Nourish Me is a writer and photographer living in Melbourne. She loves fennel, dreams big dreams of a small place to grow her own fruit and veg and counts her stepson’s love of bitter greens among her greatest achievements.
Berries photograph by G & A Scholiers and vegetable photographs by Lucy.
Day 15: learn how to cook a frittata
Posted by kathryn in A Balanced Diet and Eggs
Today’s task in 31 Days to a Better Diet is about one of my favourite meals to cook when I’m busy.
In a busy life it’s really handy to have a couple of easy, flexible dishes up your sleeve. The kind of dishes you can make at the end of a long day, with what’s in the house.
If you are confident you can make something tasty in 20 minutes, with limited effort, you’re less likely to reach for the take-away menus. Or have toast and vegemite for dinner. They’re a healthier choice.
Knowing how to make one or two fall-back dishes make it easier to cook for yourself and eat well.
The top of my list for this kind of cooking, is a frittata.
Why a frittata?
Frittatas are my number one choice for easy, flexibile dishes because:
- I can cook the whole meal in one pan – which reduces washing up
- We almost always have eggs and some kind of vegetable, fresh or frozen, in the house
- I don’t have to follow an explicit recipe, but can tweak it to suit my mood and what’s in the house
- They’re delicious and really satisfying
- I can cook one in 20 minutes
- The final meal includes a good dose of vegetables
How to cook a frittata
This is the basic method and formula I use for making a frittata. More and more I make it as a one-pot meals – so my frittatas are heavy on the vegetables.
I tend to use quick cooking, or frozen vegetables, as I want my frittata to be ready in 20 minutes. I also don’t want to use any other pans, or do fussy, complicated cooking. Ideally my frittata would include two or three of the following: onion, spinach, zucchini, tomato, peas, herbs, mushrooms or a frozen vegetable mixture.
I like a bit of cheese in my frittata as well and again I use what we’ve got. While my favourite is fetta, I’ve also used ricotta, cottage cheese, mozzarella and tasty / cheddar.
For two people I would use:
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 3 cups of vegetables – see note above
- 5 eggs
- about 50g cheese, grated or crumbled
Preheat the grill to it’s highest setting.
Prepare the vegetables: What you do with the veg, depends on what you’re using. I slice onions into thin half moons, but spinach and fresh herbs are just washed and torn up. While I cut zucchini, tomato and mushroom into thin slices, and leave frozen vegetables as they are.
Cook the vegetables: Put a non-stick frypan over a medium heat. Once it’s warmed up add the olive oil. Start adding and sauteeing the vegetables, in the following order (depending on what you’re using): onions, zucchini, peas, frozen vegetables, spinach, mushrooms, herbs (not the tomatoes). Add each to the pan, moving it around using a wooden spoon – so the vegetables cook evenly without burning or sticking. This should take 4 – 5 minutes.
Add the eggs: Lightly beat the eggs and season with salt and pepper. Turn the heat under the frying pan up to high. Pour in the eggs and cook on high for 1 minute. If using tomato, place slices on top of the egg mixture at this point. Turn the heat down to medium and continue cooking for 5 – 6 minutes, until the egg is nearly set.
Finish the frittata: Sprinkle the cheese on top and place under the hot grill. Cook for 3 – 4 minutes, until the frittata is set and the top is golden. Serve immediately.
Other thoughts
As with any dish, to become confident cooking a frittata you need to practice. The more you try them out the more likely it is you’ll feel comfortable and willing to make one when you get home late. Experimenting also means you can try out different flavours and work out the best frittata for you.
If you’re not an egg person, don’t worry as many other dishes fit into this category of easy, flexible foods. Instead of making a frittata you might want to spend some time thinking about another easy, flexible dish that could become your back-up meal.
For other frittata ideas take a look at taste.com.au, Simply Recipes, Kalyn’s Kitchen, Food Stories or cuisine.com.au.
Tonight, get practising and make a frittata for dinner
List photograph by Hannah Boettcher.
Day 14: Choose a different bread
Posted by kathryn in Shopping Basket and A Balanced Diet
Today’s task in 31 Days to a Better Diet is centred around getting more variety in your diet. This group is marked by the image to the left.
One way to increase the variety of foods you eat, is to switch around your staples. By changing foods which form the foundations of your diet, you’re eating something new, but doing it in an easy, repeatable and sustainable manner.
You’re consuming foods you know, whilst simultaneously adding to your nutrient intake.
Bread is a basic foodstuff in most peoples’ diet. It’s a food we recognise and know how to use. Therefore an easy way of increasing the variety of foods you eat, is to choose a different bread.
Today’s task
So today’s task in 31 Days to a Better Diet is to eat a different bread from normal.
Choose a wholemeal instead of white, sourdough instead of yeasted or something with grains and seeds inside.
Alternatively, instead of wheat bread pick a dark rye, gluten free or bread made from polenta. If you want to be even more adventurous, try pumpernickel, one of the sprouted grain breads or make your own.
Pick a different bread from your normal routine. Try something new out and get just that little more variety into your day.
What bread have you eaten today?
Cereal photograph by Sanja Gjenero and bread photograph by p3nnylan3.
Day 13: Spend the day doing the opposite
Posted by kathryn in A Balanced Diet
Today’s task in the 31 Days to a Better Diet is about being more aware of what you’re eating. If you’re following this group of posts, they’re marked by the picture on the left.
There’s an episode of Seinfeld where George Costanza realises
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31 August, 2008