Fruit

Eating fruit provides health benefits. People who eat more fruits and vegetables as part of an overall healthy diet may have a reduced risk of some chronic diseases. Fruits provide nutrients vital for health and maintenance of your body.

Mix up your diet and try these eight uncommon fruits and vegetables

March 8, 2017 By Belinda Elwin

Variety is the spice of life and when it comes to fruit and vegetables, the more variety, the better! They all come packed full of different flavours and health benefits so why not try experimenting with something new you haven’t tried instead of the usual. Many of the less commonly used varieties are actually very visually appealing and can make for a great talking point when entertaining. Here are eight uncommon fruits and vegetables to give … [Read more...]

Raw Food Diet

January 18, 2017 By @entwellbeing

Raw food diets have been very popular over the last few years, and we are now seeing more raw food cafes and raw food snacks than ever. Raw foods often take the form of less guilty substitutes for cakes and sweets, replacing added sugar with dates, nuts, and cacao. However, where did the raw food diet actually come from and what exactly is it? As the name suggests, raw food enthusiasts espouse a diet comprised completely, or at least … [Read more...]

Fruit and veg give you the feel-good factor

December 7, 2016 By @entwellbeing

Great news! New research has shown that simply eating more fruits and vegetables (up to eight serves a day) can actually make you happier. If it weren’t already enough that they can decrease risk for lifestyle related diseases such as heart disease and cancer as well as helping to manage weight due to their low energy/ high fibre content. If it wasn’t already enough that vegetables can decrease risk for lifestyle-related diseases, new research … [Read more...]

National Nutrition Week

October 24, 2016 By Belinda Elwin

National Nutrition Week runs from the 16th – 22nd of October. It is a great time to take a look at your own diet and see if you can make any improvements. This year the message is around trying to improve Australian’s intake of vegetables, which is at about half of what is recommended! Your goals do not have to be specific to vegetables. Perhaps you may set just one goal for the week like cutting down sugar sweetened drinks (soft drink, … [Read more...]

Superfoods or clever marketing?

July 6, 2016 By Belinda Elwin

Superfoods are everywhere and it seems like they will be sticking around for a while. They boast of their many wonderful nutritional properties and benefits to health. However, all these wonderful claims come with a price tag to match. The real questions is, are superfoods really that exceptional, or do they just have a very clever marketing team? Firstly, what is a “superfood” The term “superfood” is not actually regulated in any way. This … [Read more...]

Will global warming make you fat?

May 25, 2016 By @entwellbeing

Whilst the title seems somewhat gimmicky, this article raises an interesting issue – will climate change impact our weight and BMI? Even now the changing climate is impacting Australia’s produce and as the climate continues to change, it does pose the question of how greatly this will affect the availability of fruit and vegetables and what we will do about it. Unfortunately, Australia already has soaring numbers of overweight and obese people … [Read more...]

Portion Sizes

March 16, 2016 By Belinda Elwin

It can be difficult to know what portion sizes are appropriate if you have never seen/been told what the measurements are for different foods. The government website ‘Eat for Health’ provides information on what one portion size a range of foods is considered to be. They also outline the number of serves of each food group you are recommended to meet based on age and gender. This can be a useful guide in ensuring people are not significantly … [Read more...]

Sugar in food

February 24, 2016 By Belinda Elwin

About sugar in food The sugar in food can come from natural sources (fructose or lactose) or it can be added to products by manufacturers. Natural sugars have their place in a healthy diet but we still need to ensure we don’t over consume them. Added sugars don’t offer us any health benefits and we should try to limit them as much as possible. We easily get enough sugar in our diet from natural sources like milk and fruit and it can be very … [Read more...]

Jamie Oliver: “When it comes to diet books, there’s a lot of bollocks out there”

October 16, 2015 By @entwellbeing

Many celebrity chefs are now touting the benefits of whatever diet it is they choose to endorse. Often there are some valid, healthy points but there is commonly misinformation to go with it. Jamie Oliver on the other hand is not following any gimmicks but is rather advocating the importance of regular, healthy eating. He is even undertaking a degree in nutrition! And he is also finding out that it can be difficult to sell this way of … [Read more...]

Gastric Bezoars

September 22, 2015 By Belinda Elwin

This week we are discussing something that doesn’t occur commonly but is interesting nonetheless…Bezoars! What are these odd sounding things? Bezoars are composed of substances that collect in the stomach and struggle to make their way through the digestive tract to the point of excretion. Bezoars aren’t always the result of indigestible food particles but can also come from other ingested material – discussed below. What causes a gastric … [Read more...]