london nutrition girl.

7 fruits and veg a day.. But how!

2014-07-22T12:32:00.000-07:00

Eating more fruits and veg. It’s a funny concept that most of us have perhaps become a little too familiar with. An instruction that started with mother and ever since just seems to have got louder and louder.

And yet for some reason we ignore it. It’s funny because unlike the world of fats and sugars, which seems to be an increasingly grey area, the fruit and vegetable picture is uncharacteristically black and white.

In fact recently the case has got even stronger in the wake of new evidence from UCL that the more fruits and vegetables you eat, the less likely you are to die, at any age.

This particular study further rocked the healthy eating boat by showing that eating 7 portions of F+V reduced the risk of cancer by 25% (that's a quarter!) and the risk of heart disease by 31% (a third!). Sticking with the numbers for a minute longer – eating 1-3 portions of fruit or veg a day reduced your overall risk of dying by 14% but eating more than 7 portions, reduces the risk by 42%.

That's 560g though - over a half a kilo of fruity veggie goodness each and every day.

Great to have some more concrete evidence about what we should be doing and music to the ears of plant-based diet enthusiasts. However, those seemingly safe in the knowledge that they were meeting their 5-a-day target were left feeling a little disheartened. And those shying away from the fact that they might not be, inclined to give up.

So it seems absolutely right that the government has stuck by 5-a-day, as arguably the strongest and farthest reaching message of its kind. And it needs to be, F+V in their broadest sense provide us with most things good and holy within the food world. In fact, provided you don’t drink a gallon that you've pulped to bits, it seems they can do little or no harm. So here are seven sneaky suggestions to help you out.

1. Bump up with beans. But remember to also include other veggies too as one 80g portion of pulses only counts once.

2. Dish out the dried fruit. A 30g portion roughly counts as one.

3. Turn up the base veg. You can easily squeeze ot three or four potions out of most one-pot-cooking dishes.

4. Overlook neither the onion nor the tomato. Separately or together, the perfect base for sauces that all count towards the subtotal.

5. Freshen up puddings. Treat your treats to a little something – yoghurt and mango, chocolate mousse and cherries, cheese and grapes. Hours of fun.

6. Swop the pots. Celeriac, sweet potato, butternut squash, swede, pumpkin?

7. Fruit = snacks, fruit = snacks. Repeat, repeat, repeat.

*** 80g of fresh fruit or vegetable counts as one portion

Mango, avocado & mint ice pops

2014-07-13T08:27:00.000-07:00

Smoothies are well-known for being super delicious, super nutritious and super simple. However, I've found in the summer months it's often tricky to serve them cold enough - adding ice always seems to run the risk of losing that lovely texture. So I thought I'd take one of my favourite recipes that I came up with a few years ago and have a pop at making ice pops.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find any ice lolly moulds (apparently I wasn't the only one with this idea over the weekend) so I improvised with straws, empty passion fruit skins and fun-shaped ice trays. I love this smoothie recipe - the avocado provides a perfect yoghurt substitute as well as extra nutrients, the passion fruit seeds add a bit of crunch and provided you go easy on the mint, you can really taste all four flavours.

Nutritional lowdown

mangoes - vitamins a, b6, c and e, carotenoids, polyphenols, folate and fibre

avocados - vitamins b5, c and k monounsaturated fats, magnesium, zinc and fibre

mint - vitamins a and c, calcium, iron, magnesium and fibre

passion fruit - vitamins a and c, potassium, iron and fibre

So the main benefits will be for your eyes, skin, heart, gut health and immune system.

1 mango
1.5 avocados
1 sprig of mint
2 passion fruits
100ml water

(no slicing and dicing whatsoever)

Place the mango, avocados, mint and water in a food processor or blender and blitz until smooth. Add more water and/or mint depending on preference. Once happy with the consistency, stir in the passion fruits last so that the seeds remain whole. Serve as a smoothie or ice pops using lolly moulds if you have them, or straws and empty passion fruit skins / ice trays if you don't (run under warm water to loosen once frozen).

*** a smoothie can count as two your five-a-day provided it contains 2 x 80g portions of two different whole fruits

Long(er) distance running

2014-04-30T03:53:00.001-07:00

So 8 weeks ago I ran my first road race. And 8 weeks later I can say with full confidence that long distance running - you have converted me.

After a short break, I'm already completely back into it and the Great North Run has been set as the next big target. All of a sudden asking friends whether they're keen to run it has taken seat alongside other questions about summer plans.

And of course one day, it would be great to join the big kids in the big schmoke. Hats off to all of them, running another 13 miles after those 13 miles?!! But I guess walk before you can run, and run before you can run-run?

I'm not sure I expected to enjoy my half marathon as much as I did. So why did I? Well they say punchy-points make for better persuasion than stringy-sentences, so here goes.

Training becomes enjoyable. Getting out there to keep healthy or in shape, previously always carried more the obligatory than the fun factor.

Fundraising. Double-handedly, Lu and I were able raise far and beyond what we had hoped for a charity close to our hearts, Rethink Mental Illness.

A weekend away. Cutest Saturday night spent on the sofa with friends, a bowl of pasta and glass of orange squash, into bed by 10pm!

Surprising yourself. Mile 11 was grim and I owe a lot to whoever came up with glucose sweets. But you can't knock new experiences, and demanding that much of my body was previously unchartered territory.

The medal, the goody bag and the sponsored gear. Free stuff!

Sky's the limit. Marathons, triathlons, or even iron man's if you're a glutton for really strong poison. All much more achievable.

Opportunity. Having the privilege to cross a finish line on the track of a world class stadium, cheered by thousands of crowds.

So to all those London loveys out there tonight, feeling the tube strike anger? Well, why not turn it in for a tube-sock canter?

Carb loading

2014-03-01T09:01:00.000-08:00

Any day that you cross something off the bucket list is a big day. And tomorrow, is a big day. Lucy-Lu and I will be coming to the end of our very own personal challenge and running the Mizuno Reading half marathon.

I'm planning to pop a separate post up about the day itself (I'd love to blame the lack of blog posts lately on the amount of training that's been going on, I can't). But the run-up does also deserve a mention, purely because of the amount of nutritional fore-thought that has gone into it.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, I had a go at carb-depleting. Probably not something that's necessary for a 13 mile race, however, I took it on mainly for experimental purposes. The aim of the game is to eat as little carbohydrate as possible to try and get rid of as much of the body's glycogen (carb stores) as possible, particularly the glycogen in muscle. This meant sticking to a hunger-driving, headache-causing, snappy-female-making eating plan that contained 50-100g carbs.

(B) 1 x toast. (L + D) chicken / fish +/- eggs with a mountain of veg or salad.

(Snacks) raw veg, 1 x low-sugar yog.

I had hoped that the subsequent carb-loading phase from Thursday through to Saturday would be much, much, more enjoyable. However, it hasn't been quite such a pleasant surprise. Carb-loading, by contrast with carb-depleting, requires loading up your carb intake to a whopping 9-11g carbs per kg so that you pack your now empty muscles with fresh glycogen over the course of the last few days.

This means that when you're standard body carb stores run out (after around 90 minutes), you have plenty more ready-to-use glucose packed away; thereby reducing your risk of hitting the infamous wall.

Seems best to opt for slow-releasing and high fibre sources of carbohydrate, and whilst it's important to continue a good intake of protein, you don't really need to increase your caloric intake alongside it.

(B) 3 x toast / 200g cereal, (L + D) 100g meat / fish, 80g veg, 600g rice or pasta / 1 x baguette, pudding.

(Snacks) 2 x toast with honey, yoghurts, crackers, fruit, sports drinks.

It's been tough! I feel like a very over-puffed cotton wool ball (gained 1.5kg!). Not least because of all the water that the body stores alongside with glycogen. Fortunately, dinner tonight and breakfast tomorrow are set to be far more moderate starchy portions, to avoid feeling like a sack of flour when it comes to race day.

Twas the Holiday season

2013-12-28T04:56:00.001-08:00

Driving home for Christmas. A little different when it's a whip down the Euston Road, over the West London flyovers and through Kensington and Chelsea. But wonderful all the same when Santa's sleigh arrives at your door on Christmas Eve, a little brother at the reigns, so that all the goodies can be delivered without a single venture below ground.

Without question my favourite Eve of the year - roast number one was at the cousins with lots of family and distinguished friends. Us kids on christmas eve then asked Pops for a lift to Wimble Village for a festive tipple, tied up with an obligatory chorus of birthday greetings for the one who made it all possible.

Christmas morning, bright and early - no lie ins for this lot. First stop, a Gini walk - another of my festive highlights. Wellies on to wish passers by a Merry Christmas (worrying inwardly that you have suddenly adopted the behaviours of Marianne Dashwood)

High time for stockings, nibbles and a few presents. Followed by the arrival of all three grandparents. Then moving on to the moment everyone spends 52 weeks waiting for - perfectly situated right in the middle of the three-day holiday season. State of postprandial somlonence achieved, all individuals retreat to the safety of sofas to stare vacuously at any images put before them. Intermittently contemplating whether to flick through new books, but aware that being full up to the top as you are, your bread-sauce brain may not play ball.

More presents, and I'm ashamed slash proud to say more food - lobsters on a bed of salad - super festive. And of course more telly. Before all booze-fed Christmas-pudding bellies are dragged upstairs for the best night's sleep they'll have all year.

Merry (belated) Christmas x

Make your own - Nut Butter

2013-12-17T13:40:00.000-08:00

Until recently, my taste buds had always been limited to the butter of one kind of nut. But there are actually, so many other nuts out there that can be buttered - pecans, walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts, brazil nuts, even seeds!

And what's surprising is that it's really, ridiculously, easy to make nut butter. You just pour the nuts into a food processor, blend and keep going. No added oil, water, butter or cream - nothing!

It's just nuts and their oils, without any added rubbish, but with all the super nutritious value - plant-based proteins, magnesium, b vitamins, insoluble fibres, antioxidants including vitamin e and selenium, cholesterol-busting unsaturated fats and soluble fibres and etc! In fact, there's really good evidence that eating some nuts every day reduces the risk of heart disease and cancer.

And nut butter makes fantastic Christmas presents - so much better than chaotic Christmas shopping. It takes 10-15 minutes to whip up; almost a stretch to to refer to it as a recipe. A couple of years ago, I made chutney from leftover green tomatoes for Christmas presents, but that was a complete faff compared with this!

To fill 2 x 600g jars - 1kg of your chosen nut

I tried out pecan and almond nut butter - both were delicious. Whilst making the pecan butter, I roasted the almonds as it took a bit longer than expected to blend the pecans with my teeny tiny food processor. Once you start blending, let them go past being roughly chopped, finely chopped and powdered. Wait until the oils start to bring them to a bit of a paste. You can add a little oil if you want, to get it going, but you honestly don't need to, and definitely avoid water or it'll split.

Once liquid, you can start to improvise.

savoury roasted almond nut butter - add ground cinnamon and a tiny bit of honey and salt
sweet pecan nut butter - add 2tbsp of 100% maple syrup

You can also set aside some of the roughly chopped bits to add in later to create a chunky texture.

Once it's ready, spoon into a jar and seal. It should keep for 3-4 weeks in the fridge, and indefinitely in the freezer. It tastes great spread over toast or biscuits, or incorporated into other recipes like banoffee pie. Yum!

Tall - pecan and maple syrup nut butter
Short - roasted almond and cinnamon nut butter

*** eating a small portion of nuts (30g) carries heaps of key nutritional benefits. The fat content of nuts only becomes a problem with larger amounts or if lots of other not-so-good foods have been added in

Polpo, Covent Garden

2013-12-03T04:36:00.001-08:00

Set slightly aside from the hustle and bustle of the Covent Garden piazza, sits Polpo. Proudly understated from the outside in, the brains behind Polpo would like us to know that this type of eatery is a Venetian bàcaro -"a humble restaurant serving simple food and good, young local wines".

And all at a happy snip of a price. You could be forgiven for likening the principles behind the menu to tapas, but I'd keep that particular word under your breath if you're not looking for scowls from the slightly distingué waitresses and neighbouring clientelle.

chickpea spinach and ricotta meatballs & cod cheeks lentils and salsa verde

There is certainly plenty going on in each little plate, but still with a clever fuss-free feel. The cod cheeks lentils and salsa verde stood out in particular for me, and I couldn't resist stretching to a nutella pizzetta pudding (it came with some form of crunchy, sweet, heavenly wondrousness crumbled all over the top, I still haven't worked out what it was!)

duck and green peppercorn ragu, pappardelle

pear, gorgonzola and chicory salad

nutella pizzetta

And anywhere that makes it possible to finish your meal with a proper pot of fresh mint tea is fairly sure to be a winner with me!

*** Lentils are a great source of soluble fibre, which can help to lower blood cholesterol levels

Polpo
6 Maiden Lane, London, WC2E 7NA
Tel: 020 7836 8448
Menu Website Map
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A nutrient packed soup to keep colds at bay

2013-11-26T12:40:00.000-08:00

I stepped outside this morning and could not believe how cold it's got! And with it, everyone has become just a little bit sniffly. It seems sadly winter-bug season is all but upon us.

white camelias - referred to by some as winter's beauty queen

Advice linking any specific foods to better immunity is to say the least a little bit sketchy. However, what we do know for sure is the way the nutrients inside those foods work to benefit the immune system. The majority of them work in a similar way - helping white blood cells in their fight for the greater good. And to be honest you've only got a problem if you become deficient in any of them. And that can be avoided by just eating a nicely balanced diet.

This means sadly I can't share the secret to the greatest flu-defending, cold-busting dish. But what I can do instead is to give a run down of the key nutrients involved, where to find them, and then show you how to throw them altogether in a simple easy-to-make recipe that could be made sporadically throughout winter, just to keep them all topped up.

protein - meat, fish, eggs, dairy, pulses, soya beans, peas, nuts, seeds

zinc - meat, fish (oysters are ridiculously high in zinc), wheat germ, wheat bran, black-eyed beans, chickpeas, kidney beans, peanuts, almonds, sunflower seeds

vitamin a - sweet potatoes, carrots, red peppers, apricots, kale, spinach, eggs, milk

vitamin c - citrus fruits, berries, red peppers, tomatoes, broccoli, potatoes

vitamin e - wheat germ, eggs, spinach, broccoli, almonds, peanuts, sunflower seeds

vitamin b6 - chicken, salmon, bulgar wheat, chick peas, bananas

folate - liver, egg, wheat germ, black-eyed beans, asparagus, avocados, spinach, peanuts

allicin - garlic

Serves 1

500mls vegetable stock
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1/4 tsp chilli flakes
1 egg, soft boiled
1 salmon fillet, quartered
80g soya beans
80g spinach
Half a red pepper, sliced
40g wheat germ
2tbsp lemon juice
8 peanuts, ground

long-stemmed wood mushrooms

Bring the vegetable stock to the boil and stir in the garlic and chilli flakes. I like to make my own vegetable stock from dried mushrooms - you just break them up, add water and let them soak for about half an hour. I used long-stemmed wood mushrooms this time, so I could leave them in as part of the soup. Whilst the stock is brewing, you can soft boil the egg before setting it aside to cool.

Once it's boiling, turn the stock down to a simmer and add the salmon pieces to cook for 3 minutes. Gently mix in the soya beans, spinach, red pepper and wheat germ (if you have it). Once everything has cooked, serve with the egg resting on top, a drizzle of lemon juice and a sprinkling of ground peanuts.

*** wheat germ is the embryo of the wheat seed, it's usually stripped (along with the bran) during refining processes to leave just the endosperm. Wholegrains must have both the germ and the bran in order to call themselves wholegrains.

Complete Nutrition - Feature

2013-11-25T12:59:00.000-08:00

Nutritional Support after Hip Fracture

September 2013

http://bit.ly/17UwAun

Clinical Nutrition - Abstract & Poster

2013-11-25T12:51:00.000-08:00

Evaluating the implementation of a dietetic care pathway for hip fracture patients

M Boger, K Percy

September 2013

http://bit.ly/17UvTB7

(Poster presented at ESPEN Conference 2013, Leipzig, Germany)

The Sun - Comment

2013-11-25T12:40:00.001-08:00

Are you addicted to crisps?

7th March 2013

http://bit.ly/17UuAlH

Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics - Abstract

2013-11-25T12:24:00.002-08:00

Identification of patients with orofacial granulomatosis who may benefit from a cinnamon and benzoate free diet

M Boger, H Campbell, SJ Challacombe, M Escudier, J Sanderson, MCE Lomer

June 2010

http://bit.ly/17UsRNf

Fika, Brick Lane

2013-11-23T02:57:00.002-08:00

I was recently shopping one Sunday afternoon on Brick lane, when my friend suggested we try a little cafe-kitchen she knew called Fika - so we checked it out.

Fika is one of those blink and you'll miss it kind of places. When you get inside, the interiors are lovely with lots of exposed brickwork - you almost feel as though you are sat outside, inside. We were seated by one of the four boisterous waiters in a raised alcove, set slightly to the side, with a single small candle to light the space. The walls were decorated with old newspaper clippings and the benches were covered in pretend grass, with little square cushions to sit on.

It did prove tricky at times to catch the waiter's attention from where we were sat. However, all the guys running the show were great and very accommodating, even with any specific requests, including my hot chocolate with marshmallows and a shot of coffee.

Xenia researching..

Menus in books, and milk in milk bottles

There were seven main dishes to pick from and the menus had been adorably worked into the pages of small hard-back books. Xenia went bold with Swedish meatballs (complete with an essential dollop of loganberry jelly). I picked the mushroom pie - which was fantastic. So much so, that I decided to try my own version and share it with all of you.

I would still certainly recommend a trip to Fika if you get the chance, particularly as they also put rocket in the mushroom pie, which I forgot! Also I'd love to know what you think of the roof garden as sadly on the day we were there, it was just a little bit too chilly.

Serves 4

2 large potatoes, chopped
1/2 onion, chopped

(You could use a whole one but I prefer extra mushrooms!)

400g fresh mushrooms, sliced

(Any. I opted for a punnet of chestnut & two portabellos)

2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
12 -15 sprigs of fresh thyme, leaves only (1tsp of dried)
slosh of red wine
6 tbsp of flour
250mls beef stock
125g of goats cheese
pinch of salt and pepper

Chop and boil the potatoes for the mash, I like to leave the skins on - it's so much easier, looks pretty and holds in much more of the fibre and goodness. In a separate pan, sauté the onion and garlic. After a few minutes, stir in the mushrooms - you can use any type - I opted for chestnut and portabello.

Once the mushrooms have cooked, slowly siv and gently fold in the flour before pouring over the beef stock, adding it slowly to avoid any lumps. Season with salt, pepper, red wine and thyme.

Once everything's cooked and the potatoes have been mashed, pour the mushroom sauce into a large casserole dish. Sprinkle with crumbed goats cheese and layer over the mashed potato. Decorate with a few sprigs on thyme and pop in the grill at 180 degrees for 5-10 minutes. Serve with either green beans, or watercress and rocket salad.

*** Mushrooms are impressively low in calories. A handful of buttons is only 20 calories but provides some nutrients not found in many other foods: including around 15% of our daily requirements for copper and 10% for selenium

Fika
161 Brick Lane, London, E1 6SB
Tel: 020 7613 2013
Menu Website Map
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Goji berries

2013-11-15T11:31:00.000-08:00

I would personally probably argue that all foods are 'super', even the sugar-spiking kinds that put a smile on our face - I'm yet to find an antioxidant-laden fruit that does that quite so well! But there are definitely more and more foods available to us which convincingly carry both the novel, and the nutritious factor.

Goji berries are one such better known example. I first encountered them when mixed with chinese-greens at my cousin's restaurant and none of us had a clue what they were. Not even googling it could solve the mystery - several other red berries were featuring a little higher up the search list.

Somewhere between a dried cranberry and a raisin, with an after-taste that if I'm honest reminds me of pumpkin(!), goji berries are renowned for being an acquired taste. But like them or loathe them, they don't half pack a nutritional punch:

Protein - goji berries have 11 out of a possible 20 amino acids (not bad for a fruit!)

Iron - they are seriously iron-heavy, with more gram for gram than spinach or steak!

Vitamin C - more than oranges! This will help with absorbing the iron.

Beta-carotene - the same stuff as in carrots that helps us see in the dark. It's an antioxidant so slows the damaging oxidative processes that can lead to cancer, ageing and heart disease.

Zeaxanthenin - also found in paprika, saffron, spinach, broccoli and... eggs! Again it's pretty good for our peepers.

And that's without mentioning the plentiful supply you get of several other vitamins (vitamins B 1, 2, 6 and E) and minerals (calcium, zinc, copper and selenium!).

Having said that, there's no hard and fast evidence that eating goji berries will keep us from harm. Although, healers in the Far-East have been using them forever, and you've got to wonder when people have stuck by something for several centuries. And from looking at the above, they certainly can't be a bad idea!

They're fairly available now with most big supermarkets and pretty well all health food shops stocking them. But at their current price, they're unlikely to start featuring regularly on weekly menu plans just yet.

However, if you're curious, convinced or just keen to give them a whirl, here are a couple goji berry beverages to try out. If not, then double up on your steak, fried eggs and spinach tonight and I'm sure you'll do just fine!

Goji Tea

Simple - handful of goji berries, pour over hot water, and stir!

Gojirasplumberry smoothie!

Blend together 2 tbsp goji berries, two ripe plums, quarter of a punnet of rasberries (mine were fresh from frozen!), 4 tbsp of water and 1 tbsp of honey.

*** Caution! Drinking large smoothies means large calories (even if they're nutrient-packed calories). Stick to 150ml to count as one of your five-a-day.

Pizza East Portobello

2013-11-10T07:22:00.000-08:00

Everybody loves pizza. And everybody loves pizza done well. Therefore, everybody should love Pizza East!

You can tell a fair amount of thought has gone into choosing some winning combinations, the Portobello mushrooms, tomato, fontina and oregano in particular, stuck in my mind. This isn't really the place to go asking for 'extra this' or 'not with that' if you can help it.

Pizza East is a chain that people are becoming increasingly familiar with. The original branch is based on Shoreditch High Street with a more recent addition in Kentish Town. I headed over to the third and final restaurant on Portobello Road for a friend's birthday earlier this weekend.

The menu cleverly marries up pizzas with Secondis (in this case, cuts of meat fresh from a wood oven!) as well as more modern dishes such as the Quinoa, courgette, caprino fresco and almonds salad! You've also got to hand it to them for the interiors as they've stripped them right back to the features of the original pub.

It's not a cheap eat but prices are reasonable ranging from £8-18 for a main (£8-15 for pizzas) and there are separate breakfast and brunch menus. I think the Poached egg, potato hash, rocket and spinach or even the green eggs and ham will be worth a return visit!

What really sets Pizza East apart from the rest is the number of ingredients that you don't see so often on London menus. Our waiter was happy to be quizzed and able to answer all our questions. If you do get a chance to go, here's a little glossary of cheeses to assist you in your picking!

caprino - goat's milk cheese that's soft and creamy when fresh (Caprino fresco) but can be seasoned (Caprino Stagionato) to create a saltier, more tangy cheese with a rind

taleggio - a soft but more elastic cheese with fruitier tones. It's EU PDO protected (like champagne) so can only be made in certain regions of Italy to ensure quality.

pecorino - a goat's milk with buttery nutty notes. Also EU PDO protected, this cheese becomes harder as it ages. Pecora means sheep in Italian!

burrata - an outer layer of mozarella with an inner layer of mozarella and cream, which you'll pleased to hear flows out when you cut into it!

Can't decide? Don't worry, all these cheeses are available to try as 'Counter' dishes!

*** 30g cheese is all that's needed to count as one of the three portions of calcium that most adults require per day!

Pizza East Portobello
310 Portobello Road, London, W10 5TA
Tel: 020 8969 4500
Opening Hours: Monday to Thurs: 8am - 11.30pm ; Friday & Saturday: 8am - Midnight; Sunday: 8am - 10.30pm
Menu Website Map Vimeo
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Kick the habit - A book review

2013-11-01T11:47:00.002-07:00

I was recently asked by a colleague on the other side of the pond to review her new ebook. It's served as a great revision session and fun to hear someone else's point of view, mentally nodding to some points as well as and having a little silent debate with the author about others I wasn't so sure about.

Margaret's book "Breaking the Sugar Habit" is only short and sets out to back arguments out there that: 1 - we are eating too much sugar, 2 - it's hard for us to stop and 3 - it's leading to health problems. (Photos from now on all my own).

She starts by highlighting that in the USA, the average adult consumes around 23 teaspoons of added sugar every day. She then explains sugar digestion in understandable terms including about how sugars can either be found on their own or joined together to make complex starches. There's a fair amount about fructose (fructose is another type of single sugar molecule, like glucose).

Margaret is not in the fructose fan club! She argues that it has been overlooked and is responsible for a lot of the fat build up that goes on in our tummies and livers; the basis of the point makes sense as extra sugar in the body is eventually changed into fat. She has a collection of studies to back the point but as they don't have many people in them, it's hard to say they're representative for all of us.

Revision made fun. I got carried away (what a surprise)

There is however a great reference table of food-fructose contents. Margaret also explains the link between too much sugar and type 2 diabetes, which I think most would agree with. She also refers to the fact that too much sugar in the blood knackers vessels, increasing the risk of heart disease. There is reference to super huge studies (including the famous Nurses Health Study that looked at more than 200,000 nurses over 30+ years), as one of their findings was reportedly that drinking lots of sweetened drinks increased the risk of high blood pressure.

There is a particularly valid point about too much sugar in the body being turned into cholesterol, which is turned into oestrogen, which may increase the risk of breast cancer. I found this interesting thinking about the previous blog I wrote on the 2-day diet, which was initially developed to look at the effect of weight loss on breast cancer.

Who would have thought?

Margaret also talks about the hot topic of 'a sugar addiction', which comes from the fact that sugar taps into the same pathways in the brain as substance addiction and love... actually.

The step-by-step guide on how to reduce your sugar intake is interesting but you'll have to buy the ebook to find out more. It's nice to have a step-by-step guide on how to achieve what the author is saying we should be doing - I also liked the ten top tips for success.

Margaret signs off by talking about how important it is that, if we are going to eat high-sugar foods, we should be picking those with other nutrients as well. Apparently proppa maple syrup is made from boiling maple leaves, and if you get the unrefined stuff, can be a rich source of calcium.

Margaret Wertheim's ebook Breaking the Sugar Habit: Practical Ways to Cut the Sugar, Lose the Weight, and Regain Your Health is available as a pre-launch PDF now for $3.95 and is due for release on Amazon soon.

Savoury Pizza Muffins

2013-09-20T08:30:00.000-07:00

Half of today was spent waiting around for a guy to come and look at the lights. So, I decided to use the time to make a thank-you present for my friend Xenia's parents who recently had me to stay in their beautiful house in Cyprus.

Not just any muffins, pizza muffins! (Simon Rimmer at the BBC needs to be acknowledged for the base of the recipe, I then got a little carried away making a few changes and additions).

1. Pour 225g of self-raising flour into a mixing bowl and add 100g of courgette, 100g of mature cheddar cheese and a good amount of ground salt and pepper.

2. In a separate container mix 175mls milk, 1 egg and 55mls olive oil.

3. Add together and mix / fold trying to keep as much air in as possible. That's how to get nice air bubbles.

4. Grease the pockets of a baking tray for muffins and spoon the mixture in. I then added some chopped tomatoes, olives and put a little ball of mozarella into the middle of each (luckily left over from pasta I'd made earlier this week).

A very London based harvest (big credit to Lucy Lu)

- too good to be used in the muffins but also too good not to feature somewhere.

I ate the other half of the tomato.

5. They took about 25minutes in the oven at 200 degrees to cook.

2-Day Diet. The Verdict.

2013-09-13T14:22:00.001-07:00

Average intake on five days -
1970 kcals (Target 1700kcals)
190g carbs (no target)
68g protein (no target but a daily requirement ~64g)
17g fibre (no target but a daily requirement ~20g)

Average kcal intake on two days -
976kcals (Target 800-1000kcals)
48g carbs (Target 50g)
58g protein (daily requirement ~64g)
5g fibre (daily requirement ~20g)

Weight lost across 4 weeks - 2lb (~1kg)

Keeping to 800-1000kcals on two days was relatively easy as I was in the mindset. Sticking to 1700 on the other five was hard. It felt pretty strict, especially as I eagerly awaited these days on fasting days. I guess this would be less of a problem on the Moseley 5:2 diet - fasting days are stricter and you can eat freely (but sensibly) on other days.

So this is what my eating pattern looked something along the lines of... (I did the pictures using a great new app I found by the girls at abeautifulmess.com).

Breakfast on five days -
4-5tbsp porridge, low-fat yoghurt, few nuts and raisins
or two slices of toast

Breakfast on two days -
Danio yoghurt
or one slice of toast

Lunches and Dinners -
Steak / chicken breast (no skin) / two small kipper fillets / lamb steak / turkey mince (as a spag bol) / omelette with ham with 2 eggs / salmon and eggs
Salad or vegetables
On two days: rye crispbread if I had any remaining carb allowance for it
On five days: ~100g cous cous / pasta

Snacks on two days -
+++ Coke Zeros
+++ black coffees
Banana (if within carb allowance)
Few nuts
Pint of sugar-free squash

Snacks / Treats on five days -
Carrots
Rice krispies square
Bourbon biscuit
Breakaway bar
Cider / wine (summer still had to be enjoyed, but the average was rather lifted on these days!)
Mr Whippy!
New peanut butter Kit Kat chunky
(sadly no treats on two days)

Getting through on not much breakfast was surprisingly easy on two days. In fact, getting through most of the day was no problem, it was the evenings when I'd had very little carbs for a full twenty-four hours that were a problem.

I struggle to be in full favour of any diet that makes it difficult to have a small portion of carbs at each meal, especially breakfast. Low carb diets work because you burn fat quickly but they're unlikely to be good for your metabolism (which is on your side). And it's important to not forget, carbs can in fact be really - good - for - you! (Low GI..... Foods that make you Fly)

On the plus side, I lost an aright amount of weight. Nothing ground breaking but it was at a steady rate. If I'd have kept going I would have lost more and by using the maintenance plan in the book, I might have kept it off in the long-term. Not sure if I could have continued though - this may be the first and last time I dabble in anything else other than healthy(ish) eating, kudos to those that do though!

Eating out was a problem. It was only possible on five days and meant sticking to one glass of alcohol, picking healthy things such as pizzas with the middle cut out of them (why not the crust?!) and eating very little the rest of the day - I rarely managed it.

I love cycling.

Dizziness and irritability were a bit of a problem and I definitely further developed my habit for dark coloured, calorie-free, caffeinated beverages. But at the same time it did feel strangely refreshing to not eat a lot on some days, almost as though you were using up stores that had been around for rather a long time(!), which is interesting when the initial authors were investigating whether it might actually be good for us in other ways than just to promote weight loss.

Ultimate verdict? 4 weeks wasn't enough to make a proper judgement but I lost an ok amount of weight for the time-frame. At times fasting felt surprisingly good and five days were in fact harder than two. I guess it would be interesting to know what would have happened if I'd kept going longer and then tried to keep the weight off.

2-Day Diet Challenge: Days 5-19.....?

2013-07-28T13:46:00.000-07:00

Hmm.... So I appear to have fallen a little behind with these 2-day diet updates. Could have predicted that might happen. Life has recently been keeping me super busy with article writing and applying for locum and freelance work.

So what I have decided to do is to give a summary at the end of this week of how it all went (it was going to get a bit repetitive to be honest any way - turns out I don't eat that differently day-to-day!). I'll try to throw in some of the thoughts I had a long the way and do my best to not let it turn into a super-post!

However in the meantime, I thought I'd pop some snaps up of my lush run down Regents Canal, which has been my exercise whilst I have been doing the 5:2.

2-Day Diet Challenge: Days 3-4

2013-07-16T15:33:00.004-07:00

It's a good job I've been using an app every day to log what I've eaten - there is no way I'd have remembered this otherwise. Keeping a track that way is also proving a much easier way to work out kcals each day, and the carbs on fast days.

I did manage to go for a run on Tuesday and stick to the fast in the evening but only because of some seriously supportive friends who forgave me for sitting there sipping diet fizzy pop and took my sporadic episodes of light headedness in their stride.

Pretty lanterns at Dalston Eastern Curve Garden

But Wed was a much cheerier day.

Week 1: Wednesday

BR: 40g porridge oats with low-fat strawb and blueberry yoghurt, 15g mixed nuts, few raisins (Felt much much happier after this!)
MM: 2 carrots
LU: 2 kipper fillets, salad, cous cous
MA: Rice Krispies square, carrot, Coke Zero
EM: BBQ!! Burger, chicken thigh, sausage, bits of potato salad (hard to quantify when you're having fun!), 2 ciders, few crisps and dip, few mail teasers and few m&m's (two treat portions down)

B-B-QQQQQ!

Disastrous! Fell right into the variety trap. A study on Channel 4's Secret Eaters I once saw showed that people eating sweets ate 800% more if they had a variety to choose from rather than if they were all the same. Fortunately, the damage wasn't actually as bad as I had feared because leading up to the BBQ I had tried to be saintly all day!)

Tally: 2245kcals, 121g protein, 203g carbs

No exercise

Thursday was another dreaded fast day but being at work did end up making it easier. I didn't do any exercise and there wasn't the temptation of going out for drinks in the evening. The only low point was feeling really nauseous when I got to work - I actually thought I'd eaten something dodgy at the BBQ, until I remembered I had had dust for breakfast.

Week 1: Thursday

BR: same Danio yoghurt but with 10g porridge oats (this little sprinkling did actually really help and it only amassed to 45kcals + 7g carbs)

MM: black coffee

LU: 2 chicken thighs, salad and 1 rye crisbread (again having that little bit of carb did seem to help)

MA: cup of rooibos tea at Grandma Did's after work

EM: 2 cold chicken thighs from the night before's Barbie and a sausage with roasted veg

BT: Coke Zero whilst doing a bit of work

Tally: 1007kcals, 52g carbs, 75g protein. Pow!

No exercise

No alcohol

No treats

Forgot to take any food snaps that day, so I'll leave you with these delightful cheese plates that Didi was trying to offload on me. I politely declined.

2-Day Diet Challenge: Days 1-2

2013-07-09T08:55:00.000-07:00

Right seeing as I'm here, I thought I'd pop up a bit on how the first two days have gone. I started yesterday with a no-fast day as I was going out to dinner that evening. I almost managed to stick to my 1700kcals - it was not as easy I was hoping for!

(BR: breakfast, MM: mid-morning, LU: lunch, MA: mid-afternoon, EM: evening meal, BT: bed-time)

Week 1: Monday

BR: 55g porridge oats, 200g low-fat yoghurt, 10g mixed nuts
MM: carrot!
LU: 1 chicken breast, salad (lettuce, cucumber, tomato, beetroot), about 80g uncooked cous cous (ish!)
MA: chocolate biscuit (counting that us half a treat portion used up, 1 biscuit is nor a treat!), 1 banana
EM: Chimichanga (at last!), Coke Zero
Wasn't too sure about the Chimichanga, but according to the new Google Nutrition Facts tool (which by the way is amazing) - that's what it was - i doubled the portion as the one I had was pretty sizeable. It's about the kcals really anyway on these days, so next time going to get it under 1700!
BT: 1 Hobnob (1 treat portion down!)

Tally: 1790kcals, 260g carbs, 100g protein
No exercise

Today has been the first fast-day, it has been harrrrrrd. It started off fine but I'm feeling pretty irritable right now, low tolerance for things on my laptop taking too long to load! Luckily, I've had a day off so been writing an article at home but to be honest I'd be a little worried about what my concentration levels would have been like at work.

Week 1: Tuesday

BR: Danio yoghurt (low-fat, low-carb but thick, creamy and high in protein, which helps to make it filling)
MM: black coffee :(
LU: 2 kipper fillets and salad (cucumber, tomato, peppers)
MA: 1 banana
Plan for EM: 2 chicken thighs (fat-off) with roasted veg I prepared at lunchtime.

NOT a promising start

Will hopefully (if I behave this evening) Tally as: 840kcals, 46g carbs, 62g protein

Meant to be going for a run today, which is why I've had the banana - not sure what the rules were on exercising on the fast days so we'll have to see how this works out. Remember - if I fall over.. I'm out!

Exercise: 30mins running

Then heading to a roof-top cinema night with my housemates in Dalston, definitely no drinking today (not meant to have more than 10 units per week). Suddenly this isn't all sounding like so much fun but fortunately tomorrow is not a fast-day as there is no way I'm doing that at a BBQ in the evening. I guess most likely will have to be Thurs. x

2-Day Diet Challenge

2013-07-09T08:15:00.002-07:00

So over the next few weeks we have decided as a department to try out some of the weight loss diets that we offer to patients. The idea being that we have to stick to them strictly (!) to try and gauge which is more effective, and also to get more of an appreciation for what it's like to be on them / which are more tolerable / etc.

I've got the 2-Day Diet, which is similar to Michael Mosley's Fast Diet (the popular one that everyone is doing), but the original one, which was put together by Dr Michelle Harvey (a research dietitian) and her colleagues at the University of Manchester (yes!) when they were actually investigating the effects of weight loss for breast cancer.

Anyway, the diet involves following a low-carb (up to 50g), low-calorie (800-1000kcals) plan for two days of the week, and then eating a moderate kcal Mediterranean diet on the other five days. The theory being that across the week you achieve a kcal deficit significant enough to allow for weight loss - evidence suggests that every day you would need to cut 400-600kcals from your diet to achieve weight loss and these guys argue that that is harder work that cutting right back for two days of the week.

We've got the books in the office so I've had a quick look and from what I can tell it seems that:
- for my weight, age and sex, I need to stick to 1700kcals on my other days
- I'm only allowed three treat foods (sensible portions) each week
- It's better to do the two days together to get the best benefit (that's because: 1) you'll be in the swing of eating less and; 2) the longer you're low carb, the longer you'll be in ketosis, which is when you burn fat)

I'll try to put something up on here as often as I can with a track of what I've eaten, in terms of food stuffs, kcals, carbs, treats etc and any exercise. I'll also do my best with any thoughts, hints and tricks. And just to be clear, I'm not saying I need to lose weight, in fact I recently lost a bit at Glasto, so although the aim is to try this out for 4 weeks, I will be coming off it sooner if my weight starts plummeting or I start falling over!

IF: Enough Food For Everyone

2013-06-17T13:53:00.000-07:00

I've loved seeing so much publicity lately about what a big day today is for the Enough Food For Everyone IF Campaign as the G8 leaders meet in Northern Ireland as part of the summit to discuss the ongoing and under-recognised issue of world hunger.

I'm not sure if I've noticed it more than most would (I started feeling pretty strongly about the issue after learning about the Millenium Development Goals at uni). So just in case it's slipped past the radar of others, I've taken a step away from the food, frivolities and..... shoes (not sure what happened there!) to do a bit to give the matter the attention it deserves.

Fundamentally, the issue raised by IF is that there is enough food around on the earth for everyone, yet every 15 seconds a child dies from hunger - 2 million children every year. It's not a very happy fact, but it is a fact nonetheless.

The point the IF campaign is seeking to make is what if, through a few policy changes (achievable at the G8), the numbers could be reduced. What IF we could be the generation to end world hunger? There's quite a bit on the agenda (you can check it out on their website and show your support) but the key concepts that stand out to me are:

- To free up funds that already exist to combat world hunger. Mr. C is in a unique position to push this forward this year because the UK has presidency of the G8.

- Safeguard the poorest farmers to prevent big companies buying their land, particularly when the crops grown are used to make biofuels not food (off the back of that, there is a push to prevent biofuels from being grown on would-be-crop land full stop).

- Help developing countries recover taxes witheld by big companies and wealthy individuals (through the introduction of legislation).

- Make land exchange deals more transparent and reports on government income and spending more accessible.

- Make it a legal obligation in the UK (and ideally, eventually the EU) for companies to report on issues around Sustainability (including any impact their decisions may have for environment and societies, and ultimately food provision).

The build up of attention really began 10 days ago at the start of the Hunger Summit ahead of the G8 talks. It was marked by the Big IF London event in Hyde Park with several celebrity appearances, including from Bill Gates and Danny Boyle. Attendees were invited to make and bring a spinning flower to plant alongside the many others as a reminder of the 2 million children that die from hunger each year.

Anyone can show their support for the IF campaign in a number of ways, including buying one of the super cute wrist bands available online for £1.50, making larger contributions through the website, or by setting up a twibbon on a social media page.

And, if you're feeling really generous... Links of London have added some Fashion with a Conscience bracelets to their Frienship range, all leading to different donations; for example, the Feed Green Leaf Cord is engraved with the number 50 because for each one sold, 50 school meals are donated to children affected by natural disaster. I've just noticed they're on sale at the moment but it seems the donation is still made.

Shoe Splurge

2013-05-27T13:52:00.003-07:00

I recently seem to have bought rather a lot shoes in quick succession. I can't say that's unusual; it tends to happen each time the seasons change and I'm actually considering setting a memo on my phone for September 1st, 'NO SHOE BINGING!'

all star family

It started with a pair of low-rise Converse. I love All Stars and jumping around through life in them. Their high-top predecessors had a pretty good innings (far right!) - they even have a hole in the back, which I stitched up twice before it re-opened but they are now strictly reserved for gigs and festivals, only! I love the double-tongue on the new pair and usually wear them with acid wash jeans and a slouchy jumper at the weekends.

Next came the trainer wedges. I bought these from Primark as they're pretty fashiony so not something I would want to spend much money on; they are proving a pretty useful alternative to high-heels though. I prefer to wear them as a 'casual heel' with jeans and a jacket rather than 'a smart trainer' with hareem pants and a zip-up but that's just me. They were definitely a bargain at £17 and are super comfortable. Again, I feel pretty ridiculously happy stomping around in them.

Also loving these patent black buckled (Jacques?) shoes from Topshop. I picked them up for my birthday party this year and they were definitely the naughtiest purchase (expensive, excessive and impulsive!) I preferred the cream ones initially but figured I'd get more wear out of these and ended up picking a dress to match them rather than the other way round. They're so different, they really puzzle guys - Is it a shoe? A sandal? A boot? Makes me like them even more!

I've got fed up of getting dressed up all nicely for work each morning and then putting on plimsols or trainers, which I wear to travel in a bid to save my feet from traipsing around all day in cheap shoes. So the final purchase has been my first pair of adult 'sensible shoes'. It's been a while (I'm pretty sure the last pair involved a Start-Rite foot measurer) and I've had to shop around a bit but I eventually landed on this pair of black patent ballet pumps. They're not my faves but they came in a 6.5 (love a half size) and a wide fit - perfect for my (odd) feet. Even better still, they're from the wondrous Clarks.

So as you can see, a bit of a splurge, the purse is feeling a little light especially with all the other summer goings on. So, in a bid to redeem myself I have made the effort to say goodbye to some old faithfuls at the back of my cupboard (dustyy!) and tried to get organised.

Loose ends..

2013-03-21T13:54:00.001-07:00

It's been a week of finishing of things, which I have now decided feels even better than starting them. All ducks getting neatly in a row. And it fits in pretty well with it being a crazy quarter of the way through 2013.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

I know some pretty avid fans but I couldn't have a more of a divided opinion. The storyline is a little too silly at times but it's kind of mind blowing that somebody came up with it. It's pretty poorly written but for some reason you cannot put it down. All in all, I don't think I'll read the others but I cannot wait to see the film.

Waiting for a holiday

And a trip to the Alpes. Ok so that's not really finishing something but it's all I can think about right now so it had to feature somewhere.

Little bit in love with new anon haven goggles I bought today.

Game of Thrones Season 2

Best series anyone could ever watch so everyone must watch it. And in time for Season 3 this time next week!

Putting off the clear out

Now I can freely slide the clothes in my cupboard all the way to the left. And then back to the right. And to the left. And then to the.... It's just amazing ok

And last but one hundred percent not least...

My first ever knitted scarf
Started 2nd January and finished 20th March. This is the first thing I have made in a looong time and just in time for the end the longest winter I can remember. It's also proved a great distraction to avoid after-dinner nibbling whilst watching TV; just to a put a dietetic spin on it