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Saturday, January 24, 2009

School Lunchboxes

1. Ham and cheese wrap – made with Oat or Wholeweat Mountain bread, Munchables Cheese and Cracker Snack Pack, chopped up rockmelon or container of grapes + bottle of frozen water.


2. 4 wholegrain crackers (either Paradise Vives, Vita Weat 9 grains) with 2 slices of a reduced fat cheese, popper of Aktavite milk + 2 Paradise Light Cookies or 2 homemade mini muffins + 1 nectarine.

3. Wholegrain bread roll with chicken and avocado, 3 large strawberries, frozen Smackers OR Gogurt tube + Mainland Light Cheese and Cracker Snack Pack

4. Pita pocket filled with tuna and mayonnaise, frozen grapes, Carman’s Breakfast Bar and Stringa Cheese stick

5. 1 slice Wholemeal Lebanese bread with Vegemite OR Light cream cheese, Big M popper, Crunchola breakfast bar and Goulburn Valley Fruit tub

6. Ham and Cheese wrap, Frozen grapes, Aktavite Milk, Packet of Vita Weat Grain Snacks

7. Baker’s Delight Low GI Turkey and Light Cheese cheese sandwich, Banana, 100g tub Ski D’Lite yoghurt – frozen OR Streets Paddle Pop MOO (canteen) Uncle Toby’s Low GI Muesli Bar

8. 6 Vita Weats + Vegemite, 2 small peaches, Bega Cheese Stringa, Tasti Rice Bubble Bar

9. Egg, lettuce and mayo wrap, Apple, Munchables Light Cheese and Cracker Snack Pack, Hip Hop Bar

10. Small whole meal roll with cheese and vegemite, Packet of Mini sultanas, Big M popper, Packet of popcorn

11. John West Tuna To Go, Cut up melon, Tub of Vaalia Yoghurt, Packet of Vege chips

12. Chicken sandwich on grain bread, Tub of Goulburn Valley Fruit, KRAFT Dairybites Cheesy Pops, 2 homemade mini muffins

13. 4 corn thins + spread, Cut up carrots/celery, Mini Babybel Light, Pitos Premium Pita Chips

14. Pita Pocket, 10 dried apricots, Munch Bunch Yoghurt Tub, Tasti Milkies Bar

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Whats's the matter with my new diet?

You would have had to have your head under a rock the past hew weeks to not notice the new wave of whizz bang diet programs being advertised as the ultimate answers to weight loss. Even I am shocked at the number of these programs being flogged on TV and in print media. The reason that dietitians get so frustrated with these money making weight loss programs is that we are often the ones who have to see the clients after they have tried nearly all of them but are still fat. And there is nothing harder than trying to get a persons metabolism on track again after they have tried numerous low carb, low calorie shake, soup and water based diets (think lemon detox!).

Generally speaking all of these diets are low calorie (<5000kJ per day) and low in carbohydrate (<100g each day). Yes, they will work but few are sustainable, and fewer teach any of the lifestyle skills necessary for long term habit and behaviour change which are ultimately the variables which result in long term weight control. So, if you want to spend more of your hard earned $ on these programs, go right ahead but basically you can do one yourself if you want to eat this way for a week or for as long as you like.

For example, if you would like to try the Lemon Detox Diet, all you need to do it add a teaspoon of sugar to a glass of water and drink one of these 6-8 times a day (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-_qXwT1guE) for more info on this one. Or if you prefer a low carb plan just eat an omelet for breakfast, tuna and salad for lunch and 100g steak and green veges for dinner and you have your own low carb diet for free.

So, this year, stop making money hungry businessmen richer and don't be sucked into paying more money on expensive and generally unsuccessful weight loss programs. Instead, get serious, change the way you think about food, your body and your health and simply start to make some positive changes to your lifestyle. Eat less, eat more vegetables, cut out the alcohol for a few weeks and walk each day. You may not lose as much weight as you would on a low carb diet but these are habits you can maintain and build on to get your weight off slowly, but for good.

Remember the truth is that:

"Diets aim at the wrong target - the belly, not the brain. They focus on a symptom rather than the underlying causes. the key to permanent weight loss is changing the attitudes and habits that determine what, why, when, how much and how often you eat" (Parade Magazine, 2005)