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As I’m writing this, the press is laden with the latest in weight loss plans - aimed, I suppose, at all those new year’s resolutions to get trim, especially after a season of indulgence.
What astounds me, though, is the range of diets being touted - all sorts of characters jumping on the money-spinning weight-loss bandwagon, which seems to be growing at the same rate as the nation’s waistlines.
But why are so many people paranoid about calories more than anything else, no matter where those calories come from? Many clients are surprised when I recommend nuts as a snack - "but aren’t they really fattening?" they ask, having had ‘fat=high calories=weight gain’ pounded into them.
In fact, there’s much more to weight loss, and indeed to food, than calories, as illustrated by the fact that obesity is increasing, while the intake of calories is generally decreasing. What is important is the quality of the food (within reason, of course), because even foods with the same calorific value have a completely different effect on weight.
For example, essential fats (from fish, nuts or seeds), while the same in calories as saturated fats (from meat or dairy produce), can be put to good use in the brain, immune system, cardiovascular system and skin. The saturated fats, on the other hand, can only be used to make energy.
Many overweight people have wildly fluctuating blood sugar levels due to excess sugar, stimulants and stress. Put simply, when blood sugar levels are too high, the excess is turned to fat; when too low, you feel lethargic. So avoiding getting fat is more than just calorie counting - it’s about the quality of what you eat and, of course, exercising too.
Vegans can find all the goodness they need - with a little work
A client of mine recently asked me whether I thought that a vegan diet was healthy because her daughter had made a new year’s resolution to switch from being a vegetarian (vegans avoid all foods derived from animals, and so eat no meat, milk products or eggs).
There’s no reason why vegans should get any less nutrients than a carnivore, although there are some that they need to make a special effort to include.
The most obvious is protein - good sources of this for vegans are soya produce, beans, lentils, nuts, seeds and sprouted seeds. You need to ensure a good supply of essential fatty acids too – for healthy brain, skin and hormones. Nuts and seeds are a good source of these, and particularly flax seeds because these are the only vegetarian food that has high amounts of omega-3 fats.
I recommend having ground seeds as a topping on cereal, soya yoghurt or soups. In a coffee grinder, grind a blend of flax, pumpkin, sunflower and sesame seeds. (If you do a load in advance, keep it sealed, in the fridge.) Otherwise, take a dessert spoon of flax seed oil (ask at your health food shop), neat off the spoon, in salad dressings or stirred into porridge.
Nuts, seeds and beans are also a good source of calcium, a mineral that new vegans are afraid to miss out on by avoiding milk. One nutrient that vegan diets can fall short on is vitamin B12, so I’d suggest a good multivitamin which contains vitamin B12, as this is only really available in animal products.
Natalie Savona
WANT TO KNOW MORE?
Natalie Savona gives individual nutrition consultations at Queens Walk Practice in Exeter. For an appointment, call 01392 422 555. She is the author of The Kitchen Shrink: Food and Recipes for a Healthy Mind (DBP £10.99), available through her website, www.nataliesavona.com.
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