What constitutes a sugary drink?

Posted by Sandy Rowe.

When someone said to me ‘sugary drinks’ I thought of coca-cola, Fanta, 7Up etc. That was until 6 months ago, when I realised that this applied to concentrated juices like orange juice, which was my staple morning drink of choice!

Giving up my daily orange juice routine was tough. My body had got used to the sugar rush in the morning and the deprivation was difficult to overcome. To help, I replaced Orange juice with Beetroot juice. This still has sugar in it, as it's mixed with 10/% of apple juice. However, it’s a vegetable juice and not a fruit juice, it naturally contains less sugar.

Beetroots are also full of natural goodness - Vitamins A (for the health of your eyes) and C (for your immune system), as well as anti-oxidants, which help keep your skin, nails and hair looking healthy.

Beware, it can turn your urine red, so don’t be alarmed if you notice this side affect!

Full fat or low fat?

Posted by Sandy Rowe.

For many years I've been picking the 'low' fat alternatives. And the government 'eat well' plate shows low fat dairy products. The research behind this suggestion was completed in to combat high cholesterol levels that health experts ware seeing in the 80s/90s in adults in the UK. When I started researching about full fat products, I realised that I was happier eating the full fat products, than eating products which were made up of chemicals I couldn't pronounce.

This is slightly contrary to what the government advises, however, this is my opinion on how to eat healthily, which is I avoid anything which says ‘low fat’. We need fat to be able to digest carbohydrates and vitamins A, D, E and K, so fat is very important to our diets. Not only that, but you’ll usually find that the fat has been replaced with chemicals and sugars.

Packet food - good or bad?

Posted by Sandy Rowe.

Does it look like it came out of a packet? In which case, I avoid it. This includes crisps, microwave/oven meals, cereals and sweets. Most of these are high in the wrong kinds of fats (trans fats), high in salt (adult’s daily intake should be 6gms), high in processed sugars and don’t provide our bodies with what we need. This all results in us feeling hungry an hour after we’ve eaten.

On Friday and Sunday evenings, I was particularly susceptible to packaged food. It might have been a long week or we'd come back from wakeboarding late. We'd pop into the supermarket and pick up a packaged 'healthy' meal. I thought I was doing myself a favour and eating well. Unfortunately, when I looked at the packaging, I suddenly realised that they were usually high in processed sugars, had chemicals I couldn't pronounce and had high salt content.

As a replacement, I've started booking an online food delivery every week and looking for quick and simple recipes to make in the evening. If it takes more than 30 minutes to make, it's off the menu! If we're going to be out during the week or over the weekend, I double the portion and freeze it.

Try it out and see how you get on!

Eating healthily and what it means to me

Posted by Sandy Rowe.

Eating healthily is really quite simple. However, over time, I think it’s been complicated by marketing, what we want to eat, and government guidelines changing and evolving.

• Marketing - producers don't want to tell us the whole picture; they want us to buy their product.
• What we want to eat - what tastes great isn't always good for us.
• Government Guidelines - most studies seem to come out 5-10 years after they've been commissioned.

The government guidelines for an average adult are:

60% Carbohydrates

30% Fats

10% Protein

That’s fine, but it doesn’t translate very well into every day living, especially when you have little time, need food and have an empty stomach to satisfy. Not only that, but you have to pay really good attention to what the packaging says, as it’s not always straight forwards what is good and what isn’t good for you.

Over the next few days I'll be writing some helpful tips about healthy eating.