Dietitians blog, ask an expert for nutritional advice.

Dietitian’s advice on making wise food choices at the supermarket

Dave Thompson — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 17:29:59 GMT

Cheryl, lead dietitian at EatatEase has some thoughts and advice on how you can ensure that you make the right food choices when you go to the supermarket.

Nowadays it seems like we are all faced with huge range of food choices, persuasive advertising targeted at not just kids (we all know our own weaknesses!), and confusing or conflicting nutritional information about what is good for us. So where do you start?

The single most important piece of advice I can offer when going food shopping is to plan ahead, make a shopping list, yes it can be that simple!

Always try not to go shopping on an empty stomach (when you will be more likely to be persuaded to buy things you wouldn’t normally). In other words if we have a rumbling stomach we’ll be more tempted to buy a quick fatty snack to help get by until we can eat something ‘proper’ when we get home.

Learn to read labels properly, this really is a life skill that everyone needs today, it is an essential tool, we all need to be made more aware of what we are eating. Very often there is a lot of advertising on the front of the packet, which can be misleading to say the least. Watch out for nutritional a claim, such as 85% fat free, which still means that it is 15% full of fat.

Good luck and don’t forget if you want more free dietary advice don’t forget to visit www.EatatEase.com there is loads of our advice freely available to all.

Cheryl RD

A dietitians thoughts on a detox diet

Dave Thompson — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 18:20:07 GMT

Nicola, a dietitian at EatatEase has put together some advice on 'Detox diets'.

"Detox" is certainly a popular buzzword in the dieting world, and I am constantly asked my opinion about which one and for how long will be most effective. The idea behind ‘detoxing’ is to encourage your body to rid itself of chemicals and toxic by-products alleged to accumulate in the tissues as a consequence of stress, poor dietary habits, pollution, cigarettes, drugs, alcohol, too many late nights and lack of exercise i.e. we need to cleanse the "toxic waste" from our body in order to stay healthy. Detox diets promise to aid in weight loss, improve digestion; improve hair, nails and skin; improve energy levels; boost immune system and banish cellulite. They can last from one day to one month and can involve: Fasting for short periods of time or only eating certain foods and cutting out others – especially the ones we like!

The truth is our bodies are capable of getting rid of toxins - that's the function of the liver, kidneys and skin. The gut prevents bacteria and many toxins from entering the body. When harmful chemicals do enter the body, the liver breaks them down combining them with its own chemicals to make a water soluble compound that can be excreted by the kidneys. The body is re-hydrated with water and is refreshed with a good night’s sleep! In actual fact, when you starve your body of calories it will start to build up chemicals called ketones. This can result in nausea, dehydration, weakness, light-headedness and irritability. The rapid weight loss which occurs is due to loss of water, glycogen (the body's carbohydrate stores) and muscle, rather than fat.

For more information on detox diets and the article in full visit www.EatatEase.com.

Your diet, Obesity and the risk of Cancer

Dave Thompson — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 17:50:30 GMT

Cheryl, lead dietitian at EatatEase has been reading about a recent study that monitored for seven years more than one million British women and charted the effects of Obesity and cancer.

We are all too familiar with the risks of smoking and alcohol on developing cancer, but what we tend to forget about is the link between Obesity and cancer. With the levels of obesity rising it is something that we all should be made more aware of.

Being overweight or obese accounts for one in 20 cancers – or 6,000 of the 120,000 cases diagnosed each year (Cancer research UK).

A Study carried out by the world cancer research fund based on data collected for the Million Women study monitored for seven years more than one million British women aged 50 to 64, during this time 45,000 of them were diagnosed with cancer and 17,000 died from the disease.
Being overweight has a much bigger impact on the risk of some cancers than others. Two-thirds of the additional 6,000 cancers each year due to being overweight or obese would be cancers of the womb or breast

Being overweight is a preventable risk factor, one that we can do something about.

Keeping a healthy weight by eating a low-fat, high-fibre diet with plenty of fruit and vegetables and taking regular exercise is a good way to combat cancer risk.

Are vitamin, mineral or antioxidant supplements good for your health

Dave Thompson — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 13:27:23 GMT

Hi, sorry to everyone for being away for so long, we've all had a great break and now we've got some great blogs to post.

Nicola, a dietitian at EatatEase has been reading recently in the news that scientists revealed taking antioxidant supplements increases mortality.

Recently in the news, scientists revealed that taking antioxidant supplements increases mortality. The Cochrane Collaboration - reviewed 67 studies involving more than 230,000 men and women, found "no convincing evidence" that the supplements cut the risk of dying and that beta-carotene, vitamin A and vitamin E seem to increase mortality. The release of these findings, have caused widespread criticism within the health industry resulting in conflicting information and a confused public.

You have to admit, it does question whether vitamin and mineral supplements are really necessary and safe for use.

If you are eating a healthy, well balanced diet, you should be getting all the nutrients your body requires from the food you are eating. So, if you take a vitamin and mineral or antioxidant to supplement your healthy diet, some vitamins can become toxic in high doses, therefore causing problems. For people not following a healthy balanced diet, the first step will be to seek advice from a registered dietitian who will advise you on how to change your diet and lifestyle. If, during your consultation, there is a specific food you do not like, for example oily fish, your dietitian will advise you on supplementation, giving you an informed choice of what to take. There are some people who still feel the need to take something for ‘safe measures’. If this is the case, taking a multivitamin and mineral is the best option as it will give you small doses of each vitamin and mineral therefore reducing the chances of over dosing.

Nicola Drabble
Registered Dietitian.

Global campaign for a Junk food advertising code

Dave Thompson — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 09:41:49 GMT

Cheryl, lead dietitian at EatatEase has been reading about a new global campaign that's been launched for the introduction of a voluntary code of practice that includes tight restrictions on television and internet advertising.

Recently I’ve been hearing about the possibility of a ban on using celebrities and cartoons that target children with unhealthy foods, if the food industry can’t or isn’t willing to self regulate affectively then we do need take some steps to collectively help tackle the problem with rising levels of obesity in children.

Professor Philip James of the London-based International Obesity Task Force, said: "It is vital that, as well as governments, food industry leaders support the new standards we propose.”
"We challenge the giants of the food and beverage industry to throw their weight behind this and demonstrate they really do want to be part of the solution, not part of the problem."
(Source: The Times)

In January the UK television regulator (Ofcom) introduced a ban on marketing unhealthy foods in adverts during shows aimed at children. However we’ll certainly need to go a lot further before we start to have any real impact, the World Health Organization has predicted that 2.3 billion people over 15 years old will be overweight by 2015.

Obviously advertising regulation alone is not the solution to Obesity... but it will certainly help. As so many of us will already know children can be very persuasive when it comes to food shopping. They’ll understandably want to eat or drink the food their hero is eating on TV, and unfortunately the foods that they generally promote are junk foods. We need to see more encouragement of healthier foods in the media, seeing more of likes of Popeye and Banana-man wouldn’t be a bad thing.

Get wise when eating out

Dave Thompson — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 15:08:37 GMT

Get wise when eating out

Cheryl, lead dietitian at EatatEase has sent me a blog about how we can help to tackle the ever growing problem of obesity in children, and how we can encourage them to be more active.

I’ve put together some of my best tips below to help you make great food decisions when you’re looking at the menu.

What to ask for:

Always ask how dishes are prepared, knowing how they are prepared makes a lot of difference in your calorie and fat intake.
Ask the waiting staff the following (they’ll be more than happy to help).

Are they baked, grilled, prepared with butter or oil?
Don’t be afraid to ask what’s in the sauce, the soup or the dressing.

Always ask for butter, gravy, sauces and salad dressings on the side, this simply allows you to control how much fat you eat.

Order clear soups, broths or tomato-based soups instead of creamy soups

Avoid deep fat fried starters and high fat cheese starters

When ordering meat or fish, choose grilled rather than fried dishes

Choose fish and meats en papillote (in paper or foil packets). The natural flavours and juices of the ingredients are sealed inside the parchment paper packet.

Ask for salsa as a condiment to enhance grilled foods or sandwiches. Fruit salsas are a delicious and fat-free topping for grilled fish, poultry or meat.

When ordering vegetables, ask for steamed veg, which have the highest nutritional value and are lowest in calories. Always ask for the vegetables not to be smothered in butter.

Choose tomato-based sauces like tomato and basil instead of carbonara, or rogan josh instead of creamy curries such as kormas.

Sharing dishes is a great way of introducing variety into your meal, having a little taste of everything and controlling your portions. This works particularly well in Asian restaurants or Spanish Tapa’s.

Choose plain boiled rice over fried rice

Vegetarian’ does not necessarily mean low fat, a lot of vegetarian meals can be really high in butter or oil.

If it all seems a little daunting simply pick out a couple of tips that suit your food tastes, if you like chicken maybe you’d have grilled chicken in tomato sauce, rather than fried chicken with Mayonnaise.

Good luck.

So what happened after the 2007 Great North Run

Dave Thompson — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 16:13:41 GMT

Its now nearly mid February and to be honest since completing the Great North Run at the end of September last year (we raised £3218 for Cancer Research, thanks to all those who sponsored us!) my levels of activity and general diet have gone to pot.

After the run we had some time off, although I did try to have a light run once or twice every week with decreasing enthusiasm. After a holiday towards the end of last year followed by Christmas and New Year its no surprise to find that I’ve put on weight, my jeans have gotten tighter and I generally feel a shadow of how I did last September. The lesson for me here is that while we can always get active and improve our diet its something that we need to keep on with, but the reality is that I (or you) can just pick up where I left off and get back into things once again.

Inspired by Geoff’s ‘Year without alcohol’ blog (http://www.foodle.info) I’ve decided to follow his example and give up alcohol for lent, its just 40 days so it’s a lot easier than Geoff’s challenge.

Just one week into it the good news is that I’ve already lost a bit of weight, or at least my jeans have started to loosen (I gave up weighing myself last year when in training). I’ve also worked on my diet, mostly just by planning meals, I’ve got back into cycling part of the way to work and things are already feeling better.
All in all not a bad turnaround for a weeks worth of work.

Cheryl and I are planning to run the Great North Run for Cancer Research UK again this year and whilst on holiday we talked about a full marathon… so who knows what this year will bring.

One thing I will mention is that whilst our traffic figures for the blog have grown steadily (so thank you for that) we get very little feedback or questions, please do get in touch if you do want us to discuss anything at all.

Also don't forget to visit our website (www.EatatEase.com) for some great ideas on diet and activity.

Caffeine increases the risk of miscarriage, our dietitians advice.

Dave Thompson — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 11:40:05 GMT

Cheryl, lead dietitian at EatatEase has some advice on caffeine and pregnancy.

A recent study in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology has found that more than 200mg of caffeine a day doubled the risk of miscarriage compared to those women who had no caffeine.

This level of caffeine is lower than the previously recommended intake. Current advice is set at an upper limit during pregnancy of 300mg - or four cups of coffee a day.

So the question is should we be changing our advice particularly during the early stages of pregnancy?

There needs to be more research into the effects of caffeine, in the meanwhile we might need to be more cautious with our advice in the early stages of pregnancy.
What we all need to remember is that caffeine is not just in coffee!

Cheryl has examples of drinks with caffeine in her full article Click here

Diary products and losing weight, a dietitians view.

Dave Thompson — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 15:36:44 GMT

Nicola a dietitian at EatatEase has some controversial news on the benefits of diary products and whether they can actually help you to lose weight.

Its winter and most of us are thinking about hitting the white stuff – whether it be sledging in the park or going on a ski holiday. But I’m not talking about that kind of white stuff. Yip, I’m taking about milk.

In the past milk has got so much bad press that many dieters have eliminated milk and most dairy products from their diets thinking they are ‘fattening’ and forgetting that they are not only packed with important nutrients including protein, zinc and some B vitamins, but it’s also one of the main providers of calcium, a mineral that not only helps to keep bones strong, but may also help us lose weight.

Various studies demonstrate that consuming 3 servings a day of low fat milk, cheese and yogurt as part of a reduced-calorie weight loss plan may help adults achieve better results than just cutting calories with little or no dairy.

But that’s not all…a study published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health revealed that a diet rich in milk does not actually increase the risk of heart disease and stroke, it may even help to prevent them!

Both these topics are quite controversial as some studies have found little effect on weight loss, heart disease and stroke so more research is needed, but whether or not they do, they are still good sources of calcium and Vitamin D, which are essential for bone health. The good news for you is that you can follow the Balance of Good Health recommendation for 3 servings of low fat dairy foods each day and get the nutrition benefits without concern of extra weight gain, or deterioration to your health.

Nicola has including the details of the study in her full article click here to read it www.EatatEase.com.

A dietitians view on a maternal diet and B vitamins

Dave Thompson — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 12:42:50 GMT

Nicola a dietitian at EatatEase has been hearing more about the importance of B vitamins in a maternal diet.

Any female of childbearing age is encouraged to eat a well balanced diet and make sure they are getting the right amount of folate before they even attempt to start a family. But what about the other B vitamins? It is well known that B vitamins are essential for healthy fetal development, but now scientists are reporting that even small reductions can lead to subtle modifications to DNA, which can cause health related disorders, particularly in males.

Researchers from the University of Nottingham have shown that the adult offspring of sheep deprived of B vitamins prior to conception were 25% fatter, showed insulin resistance and had higher blood pressure than animals whose mothers ate a healthy diet.

Dr Sinclair said: "There is no effect on fertility, or birth weight and young offspring appear quite normal. However, sweeping changes to our DNA take place during conception and we now realise that this period is particularly vulnerable to environmental influences that can affect development and lead to chemical modifications that can make permanent alterations to gene expression. If maternal diet is not properly balanced it can upset these processes during conception it is a vulnerable period in mammalian development."

Taking supplements is not necessary if you are following a well balanced diet. B vitamins are found in foods such as fish, red meat, poultry, milk, cheese, eggs, green leafy vegetables, bananas and fortified breakfast cereals.

Diabetes and thyroid diet enquiry

Dave Thompson — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 11:24:55 GMT

Hello Surinder,

Thank you for your query about diet and diabetes, thyroid and weight reduction.

First of all let me say you have made a great start by taking regular exercise as not only will this help with your physical health but exercise has also been shown to help lift your mood too.

Unfortunately it is not possible to get rid of diabetes by diet, however eating the right diet and taking regular exercise will help improve your blood sugar control and therefore reduce your risk of the complications associated with poorly controlled diabetes.

Also if you are overweight (you can check this by using the BMI calculator at eatatease.com), weight loss can improve your blood sugar control and in some cases decrease the amount of medication needed. That said with Type 2 diabetes it’s progression varies and though some people only ever require diet alone to manage it, for others they may end up needing tablets (like yourself) or insulin aswell as a healthy diet.

As for the thyroid. Again there is no dietary cure for thyroid problems. If you have an UNTREATED overactive thyroid (hyperthyroidism) you will typically lose weight, whereas with an UNTREATED underactive thyroid (hypothyroidism) it is typical to gain weight. However if you are given medication to keep your thyroid levels in the normal range your weight should return to your usual weight prior to the thyroid problems if your diet/activity have remained unchanged.

Without a height it is not possible to say what your ideal weight should be and therefore it is difficult to advise upon a target rate, however assuming prior to your weight gain you were a healthy weight then aiming to get back to 67KG seems a sensible goal.

I am unable to give detailed personal dietary advice via the blog, however you can obtain lots of helpful hints at eatatease.com for diet and diabetes, such as regular starchy based meals (such as chapattis and rice). Also you can also access a one-to-one e-consultation with a registered dietitian for an additional charge.

I hope you find this useful

Kate Skilton RD
Find out more about Kate

How can we encourage our children to be more active

Dave Thompson — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 11:48:58 GMT

Cheryl, lead dietitian at EatatEase has sent me a blog about how we can help to tackle the ever growing problem of obesity in children, and how we can encourage them to be more active.

With levels of Obesity in children growing dramatically it’s very important that we ensure that our children are increasing their activity and not just sitting in front of the TV or computer.
Experts are predicting that the ‘obesity epidemic’ will be the single biggest cause of ill health in the near future, yet we all need to do our part in keeping children fit, healthy and free from obesity.

To help combat the problem of inactivity in children the UK government is recommending children aim for a minimum of 1 hour a day activity, by 2010, all children will be offered an additional two to three hours beyond the school day. BUT we shouldn’t leave it up to schools or the government, so how can we start making our children more active?

Here are three tips to help your child get moving and stay active:

Encourage your kids to play games and take up various sports that they’re interested in.
Experiment with different activities so your children don’t get bored. Examples could include tennis, swimming, horseback riding, boxercise, jazz or ballet classes.
Kids often emulate their parents’ behaviour, so teach them that exercise is a smart habit by being regularly active in your own life.

The reality is that making effective changes to your diet and activity levels do work.

Click here to read Cheryl's article in full at www.EatatEase.com

Common dietary problems during pregnancy

Dave Thompson — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 12:12:43 GMT

Cheryl, lead dietitian at EatatEase has sent me a blog about common dietary problems during pregnancy following a request from one of our readers.

If you are overweight or have a tendency to put on weight quickly :

a) avoid frying foods
b) choose skimmed or semi-skimmed milk, low fat yoghurts and cheese e.g. Edam, Gouda, Low-fat cheddar, Cottage cheese
c) Avoid many cakes, biscuits, crisps, chocolates, etc.
d) Avoid fatty meats e.g. chorizo, sausages, kebab, etc.

If you are overweight, the extra weight you are carrying, combined with the weight of your baby may lead to increased tiredness, breathlessness and back problems during your pregnancy.

Read our recent blog about weight gain during pregnancy. Click here

Common pregnancy problems

Nausea and sickness
This is common in the first 14-15 weeks of pregnancy. Nausea is thought to be caused by changing hormone levels. This can happen at any time of day or night (not just in the mornings). The feeling of sickness can sometimes be helped by a hot drink or a plain dry biscuit, piece of dry toast, bread, breakfast cereals. If it persists all day try eating little and often.

Cravings and taste changes
When you are pregnant you may find that foods you normally enjoy taste different, or that you don't feel like eating them at all. You may find yourself craving foods that you normally never ate before. There's nothing to worry about as long as you are eating a nutritious diet. However, if you have cravings to eat non-food items such as toothpaste or charcoal consult your doctor.

Heartburn
This usually occurs later in pregnancy when your baby is much bigger and pressing on your stomach. You may find it helps to eat small regular meals throughout the day and avoid eating late at night. Fried foods and very spicy foods can sometimes aggravate the symptoms of heartburn. Avoid putting on too much extra weight as this can also make the heartburn worse.

Constipation
You may suffer from constipation at some stage of your pregnancy, this happens because your intestine changes its functions slightly during pregnancy, try to eat foods high in fibre and remember to drink plenty of fluids.

New American and British cancer guidelines released this week.

Dave Thompson — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 13:39:42 GMT

Nicola a dietitian at EatatEase has put together a summary of this weeks report from both the American Institute for Cancer Research and the British World Cancer Research Fund about - Food, nutrition, physical activity and the prevention of cancer.

This is the largest study on lifestyle and cancer and is based on analysis from scientists and includes over 7000 studies.

They found a definite link between excess fat and cancers of the oesophagus, pancreas, colon and rectum, endometrium, kidney as well as breast cancer in postmenopausal women. Anyone with a BMI of over 25 will be at an increased risk and there are estimates that obesity will overtake smoking as the leading preventable cause of death.

They also offer the following recommendations:

Stay within a healthy weight range BMI 20 -25
Limit intake of red meat
Avoid processed meats
Decrease alcohol
Avoid sugar and sugary foods
Exercise daily
Breastfeed babies
Do not take cancer-cutting supplements

If you don’t have cancer, it is never too late to lower your risks. Following these guidelines will also help fight against diabetes and heart disease.

You can find information about everything above available for free at our website www.EatatEase.com

Is your relationship unhealthy, could it trigger heart problems?

Dave Thompson — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 12:52:46 GMT

Kate, lead dietitian at EatatEase has found out some more info on the relationship between the people you're closest to and your health.

You may have seen my blog earlier in the year about research that suggested that if your friends were overweight then it increased your chances of being overweight. Now it seems that your one closest relationship may influence your heart health. Click here to view

A recent study published in The Archives of Internal Medicine has shown that if you have a negative relationship with the person you consider to be closest to…. for most people their partner…. this may well increase your risk of heart disease.
They found this by looking at the relationships of 6000 men and 3000 women with no previous heart problems and then over 12 years or so they recorded how many had heart attacks or angina attacks.

They found that those with the most negative relationships were just over a third more likely to have a heart problem compared to their counterparts in the least negative relationships…. and that was after accounting for other factors that may have influenced their risk of heart problems such as age, sex, smoking, alcohol intake, exercise, fruit and veg intake, diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure and cholesterol levels.

Check out EatatEase.com for dietary info and tips on reducing your risk of heart disease, weight loss or for the dietetic treatment of high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes. Also why not look over our newly updated Activity and Exercise section for some great free exercise tips.

Easy tips to encourage our children to follow a healthier diet

Dave Thompson — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 10:47:29 GMT

Cheryl, lead dietitian at EatatEase sent me a post on the recent news about kids in Scotland having free healthy school meals. Is this a good thing? Only time will tell!

Encouraging healthy eating early on in life will help to ensure that good eating habits are carried through to adulthood. Experts have for many years linked the decrease of cooking skills and general food awareness in the family home to the current obesity crisis. So its great to hear that finally the Scottish government has started an initiative to ensure that children will now receive healthy cooked meals free at school for the first two years. The aim is to hopefully kick start a trend of healthy eating in their daily diet.

We shouldn’t however rely on our schools to educate kids on having a healthy diet, we should all be working on it at home as well.

Why not start with fruit and vegetables? Probably one of the difficult ones for most kids! We all know we should be aiming for a minimum of 5 pieces of fruit and vegetables a day. But what can you do to get our children to increase their intake of fruit and vegetables?

I’ve included a few tips that we often use below.

Add more vegetables to your favourite dishes, e.g. add finely sliced carrots or mushrooms to Bolognese sauce, or add finely chopped red pepper to tomato sauces.
Serve slightly bigger portions of vegetables that they do like.
Mix together grated carrot and Red Leicester cheese (colours blend so not that easy to see the carrot) and use to fill sandwiches and jacket potatoes.
Make your own homemade burgers and swap chips for homemade potato wedges.
Buy lower-fat versions of crisps and avoid the large family size packets.

The key is always to introduce change in small manageable steps, too much change in one go will only bring tears at bedtime!

I'm overweight and pregnant, what should I do, lose weight, gain weight, stay the same?

Dave Thompson — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 10:49:41 GMT

Kate, lead dietitian at EatatEase has found some interesting news about what an overweight mum should do with their weight during pregnancy.

As the population tends towards increased obesity it stands to reason that there will be an increase in the number of pregnant women who are obese, even though obesity can bring fertility problems.
It is recommended NOT to attempt to lose weight during pregnancy. Instead, if you are obese, the aim is to prevent or have little weight gain during the pregnancy.

And now a recently published study has looked further into the benefits of limiting the weight gained during pregnancy for obese women.
The aim of the study was to see what the effect of weight change had on 4 pregnancy outcomes (having a large baby, having a small baby, caesarean delivery & pre-eclampsia) in obese women.
They studied 120,251 pregnant, obese women delivering full-term, single, live birth infants.
It found that those who gained less than the usual recommended weight had a reduced risk for pre-eclampsia, caesarean delivery and large-for-gestational-age birth, though they did have an increased risk of having a small-for-gestational-age baby.

The authors concluded that pregnancy outcomes for obese women may improve if they gain little or no weight during pregnancy and suggest that maybe there should be guidelines developed for obese women regarding weight gain…. Or lack of it…. during pregnancy.

About us

Dave Thompson — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 21:03:33 GMT

Firstly... welcome to our blog.

The EatatEase online dietitians blog was created to offer an insight into the members of the EatatEase team, what we're about and what we get upto. Its also an ideal oppurtunity for our dietitians to regularly comment on issues that are in the news in a way that we simply could'nt on the EatatEase website.

What is EatatEase.com?
We're an online dietitians clinic, our UK registered dietitians provide online consultations to anyone who wants a genuine alternative to the automated solutions that you'll find everywhere on the web.

Why Blog?
Blogging means that we can make comments about things in the news, discuss evidence based issues within dietetics and most of all bridge the gap between US and YOU. The people that you see making the blogs are actual dietitians from the EatatEase team and the blogs are posted by me (Dave), I look after our clients to make sure they're OK and to answer any queries about EatatEase that aren't diet related.

Questions or comments.
If you have any questions are comments about EatatEase, our dietitians or our services just get in touch, either leave a comment on the blog or use the 'contact us' page at EatatEase.com

Thanks, Dave.

I’m active I can easily burn off what alcohol I drink, can’t I?

Dave Thompson — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 11:18:58 GMT

Kate, lead dietitian at EatatEase has been working out a few guidelines on how much activity you need to do to burn off those extra calories taken in through alcohol.
Unfortunately its not the best news for those who're not fitness addicts!

There's a Calorie Burner Calculator on the EatatEase website that allows you to estimate the amount of calories you burn during activity. So using this I've worked out how much exercise you’d need to do to burn off calories from some popular alcoholic drinks.

If you’re a beer, cider or Guiness drinker then for each pint you’d have to cycle…. & not a gentle ride through the countryside cycle, but at a fast pace…. for around 15 mins. If you have a bottle of high strength beer this is increased to 35 mins.

A small 120ml glass of wine will need just over 10 minutes of skipping to make amends.

And well, if Baileys is your tipple, get that swimsuit on as each single shot (37mls) would need you to swim briskly for 15mins or for 25 mins if swimming slowly.

Finally a word of warning, although you may be able to increase your physical activity to help prevent weight gain from alcohol intake, you should keep your intake within safe levels as your liver still has to remove the alcohol from your body.

Why not find out more about alcohol & safe levels of drinking by looking at our alcohol related blogs here, also there’s our information on alcohol within the EatatEase website.

Good news about the not so humble avocado, add it to your weightloss diet!

Dave Thompson — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 18:55:33 GMT

Nicola a dietitian at EatatEase has sent me a blog about the often overlooked avocado. I've recenty heard them reffered to as a 'superfood' so they must be pretty good!

It really is good news about the avocado...

This great tasting fruit has always got bad press due to its fat content and any dieter will tell you to cut it out of your diet. But results from studies show us differently. It was found that including avo’s in an energy restricted eating plan does not compromise weight loss or negatively affect lipid profiles – In fact it aided compliance and increased the participants’ enjoyment of the weight loss diet.
In recent years scientists have also found that that due to its high content of mono-unsaturated fatty acids, avocados help with glycaemic control (controlling your sugar levels). This is good news for diabetics as well as dieters.

What else does this fruit have to offer?

A 200g avocado:
Contains 11g of fibre – the highest fibre content of commonly eaten fruits
Provides 120% the Vitamin A RDA
Contributes 30% of Vitamin B6 RDA
Gives 37% of the Vitamin C RDA
Is the highest fruit source of Vitamin E giving 15% RDA
Adds 58mcg of Folate to the diet
Is the highest fruit source of Lutein giving 568mcg
Has 35g of fat of which 20g is MUFA, 5g PUFA and 8.5g SFA
Has only 6mg of sodium
Adds 1166mg of potassium