Pistachio nut- interesting facts
Pistachio nut day is on 26th February 2022 We love pistachio nuts here at 121 Dietitian. So when we spotted there was a special world pistachio nut day we felt we had to give them a big shout out! Pistachios are good for you! Pistachio nut facts: • Pistachio are nuts native to Western Asia and Asia Minor, archaeology suggests that pistachios were eaten as a common food as early as 6750 BC. Wow!• They are one of the more expensive of the nuts out there because of the trees on which they grow. It only reaches production 15-20 years after being planted. Isn’t that crazy!• Pistachio trees can only produce about 22kg of nuts each year. Furthermore, pistachios are sorted by hand and not by machine.• Pistachio trees can only grow in cool winters and hot summers, meaning that there’s only a few locations in the world where the trees can grow.• Iran is the biggest producer of pistachio nuts ahead of USA and then Turkey. How to eat Pistachio nuts: When eating pistachios from the shell, split the shell and eat the small kernel inside. The kernel may have a thin skin on it that do eat this for upping polyphenols. If you find a nut in a shell that doesn’t pry apart easily, simply use a nutcracker to open it up. As a snack. Eating pistachios raw or roasted. Both in-shell and shelled pistachios are available in grocery stores. Over salads. Shelled pistachios (either whole or chopped) are often sprinkled over salads. Pistachios can also be puréed and mixed with oil and herbs to make a creamy salad dressing. Ground into sauces. Ground pistachios are popular as a base for sauces and dips, like pistachio-yogurt sauce. Added to bread dough. Ground pistachios can be added to bread dough to give it a thicker texture with extra protein. In desserts. Chopped pistachios are commonly mixed into or sprinkled atop desserts like ice cream, cake, truffles, and pastries. Pistachio nuts are also a common ingredient in dishes from an array of cultures: • In Turkish dishes. Pistachios are most well-known in Turkish recipes for being minced and layered in the traditional baklava.• In Italian dishes. Pistachios are a common addition to Italian pastas, either chopped and mixed in to the noodles or ground and made into a spiced pistachio sauce.• In Indian dishes. Indian food makes ample use of pistachios, and they’re a staple ingredient in many Indian rice puddings, pilafs, cookies, and a spiced pistachio fudge called pista barfi.• In Iranian dishes. Pistachios are a common ingredient mixed into Iranian chicken and rice dishes, and also served as a traditional Persian snack, roasted with lemon juice and saffron and tossed with sea salt. What are the health benefits of Pistachio nuts? – Nutrition Pistachios are high in fibre: Eating pistachios can improve your gut health if you have no ongoing dysbiosis issues. Rich fibre foods help move food through the gut and prevent constipation and may help reduce the risk of colon cancer. Pistachios are high in antioxidants: Pistachios are known to contain antioxidants that have strong cancer-fighting properties and cardiovascular disease prevention. Furthermore, pistachios also contain lutein and zeaxanthin, two carotenoids that will help you maintain eye health and overall immunity. Pistachios are great for vegans and vegetarians: With protein accounting for almost 21% of the total weight of the nut, pistachios contribute almost 6% to a person’s daily protein needs. For plant-based diets, pistachios provide that much-needed protein. Relative to other tree nuts, pistachios have a lower amount of fat and calories but higher amounts of potassium, vitamin K, γ-tocopherol, and certain phytochemicals such as carotenoids, and phytosterols. A handful of pistachios (45) contain 156 calories, 3 grams of fibre, and are one of the most vitamin B6-rich foods around. Do you enjoy eating pistachio’s? They are so tasty if you haven’t tried them. Don’t continue to miss out, try them as part of a bigger plan to increase variety in your diet. If you are unsure of how to change your eating habits, or need help optimising the foods you eat please do contact us. We would love to help you or your family and friends with any nutrition related queries big or small. In the meantime do please check out our 121Dietitian Shop If you have enjoyed this blog we would love you to share this with your family and friends on your social media channels. Why not visit our YouTube Channel for more on keeping your health optimal. How can a Dietitian help Book a consultation via our Online Portal About Gillian Killiner Check out our tailored dietary programmes Gillian x [instagram-feed]
Sugar what you need to know …
It is Sugar awareness week 18th – 24th January 2021 so I thought I would take a look at this in more detail for you as it is one of the biggest concerns my patients have when I see them at my clinics. What is sugar? The term ‘sugar’ usually refers to what we know as table or granulated sugar – the type of sugar that we add to our tea or coffee. We also are familiar to the different variations which include caster sugar, icing sugar, brown sugar, demerara sugar, these are types mostly used in baking.These, you may already know, are not the only sugars around. Sugar occurs naturally in all foods that contain carbohydrates, such as fruits and vegetables, grains, and dairy.All ‘sugars’ are carbohydrates and along with starch they one of our body’s main source of energy. Carbohydrates are required for our brains, bodies and nervous system. In fact it has been part of our diets for thousands of years. Sugar is found naturally in most foods like fruits, vegetables and milk as well as being an ingredient used in a wide range of foods and drinks. Great, so what is all the fuss about? Consuming whole foods that contain natural sugar is acceptable as part of a healthy intake when you have a healthy metabolism. Plant foods have high amounts of fibre, essential minerals, and antioxidants alongside smaller amounts of carbs, and dairy foods contain protein, fats and calcium which are important for the body.Because of these extra components your body digests these foods slowly allowing the sugar in them to provide a steady supply of energy to your cells. A sufficient intake of fruits, vegetables, and fibre rich foods have been shown to reduce the risk of many chronic diseases, such as diabetes, heart disease, and some cancers. So what’s the problem? Increasing technology has brought many changes to our food production. More and more convenience foods are available that taste good, are very addictive and can be eaten 24/7.Problems occur when regularly eating these processed foods leads you to consume too much “added sugar”. The food manufacturers add this to enhance the flavour or extend shelf life and this can often be hidden in foods you would never imagine.In the modern diet, the top sources of sugar are soft drinks, fruit drinks, flavoured yogurts, cereals, biscuits, cakes, sweets and most processed foods. But added sugar is also present in items that you may not think of as sweetened, like soups, bread, processed meats, and condiments like ketchup. How much sugar are we allowed? Our recommended dietary intake of sugar per day: Adults should have no more than 30g of free sugars a day, (roughly equivalent to 7 tsps/sugar cubes). Children aged 7 to 10 should have no more than 24g of free sugars a day (6 tsps/sugar cubes). Children aged 4 to 6 should have no more than 19g of free sugars a day (5 tsps/sugar cubes). What sugar we consume Adults in the UK take in 3 times the recommended amount at an average of 22 teaspoons/cubes of added sugar per day, according to the NHS website.Four to 10-year-olds are eating more than twice as much sugar as they should per day, equivalent to 13 tsps/sugar cubes (PHE 2018). “Excess sugar’s impact on obesity, Blood pressure, inflammation, weight gain, fatty liver and diabetes and this is well documented, but one area that may surprise many is how their taste for sugar can have a serious impact on their heart health and increase risk of stroke,” says Dr. Frank Hu, professor of nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Impact of sugar on your heart In a study published in 2014 in JAMA Internal Medicine, Dr. Hu and his colleagues found an association between a high-sugar diet and a greater risk of dying from heart disease. Over the course of the 15-year study, people who are 17% to 21% of their calories from added sugar had a 38% higher risk of dying from cardiovascular disease compared with those who consumed 8% of their calories as added sugar. “Basically, the higher the intake of added sugar, the higher the risk for heart disease,” says Dr. Hu. Sugar has several indirect connections to affecting heart health: 1) high amounts of sugar overload the liver. “Your liver metabolizes sugar the same way as alcohol, and converts dietary carbohydrates to fat,” says Dr. Hu. Over time, this can lead to a greater accumulation of fat, which may turn into fatty liver disease, a contributor to diabetes, which raises your risk for heart disease.2) Consuming too much added sugar can raise blood pressure and increase chronic inflammation, both of which are pathological pathways to heart disease.3) Excess consumption of sugar, especially sugary drinks, also contributes to weight gain by tricking your body into turning off its appetite-control system because liquid calories are not as satisfying as calories from solid foods. This is why it is easier for people to add more calories to their regular diet when consuming sugary drinks. How you can reduce your sugar intake? Reading food labels is one of the best ways to monitor your intake of added sugar. Look for the following names for added sugar and try to either avoid, or cut back on the amount or frequency of the foods where they are found: • brown sugar• corn sweetener• corn syrup• fruit juice concentrates• high-fructose corn syrup• honey• invert sugar• malt sugar• molasses Also syrup sugar molecules ending in “ose” (dextrose, fructose, glucose, lactose, maltose, sucrose). Check the total sugar of the product, which includes added sugar, this is usually listed in grams.If it says 5 grams of sugar per serving, but the normal amount you would eat is three or four servings, you will easily consume 20 grams of sugar which is way too much.Also, watch the amount of sugar or syrups you add to your food or drinks. About half of added sugar comes from
Menopause Diet: The Top Nutrients You Need To Know About
Learn all about the top nutrients to help minimise the symptoms of menopause, assist with it and also maintain healthy bones. Key nutrient are important to consider if you are going through the menopause. Whichever menopausal symptoms you experience, the change in the balance of your hormones is the cause. A well-balanced menopause diet is essential because it helps the body adjust to the hormone changes. Symptoms of the menopause can include any of the following; Tiredness Depression Low libido Vaginal dryness Hot flushes Bladder weakness Dehydrated skin Hair loss Insomnia Weight gain There are a plethora of nutrients that help minimise the symptoms and even assist the passage of menopause and also help you maintain healthy bones. Menopause diet – nutrients that you can consider: B Vitamins B Vitamins are known as the “stress vitamins”. This is because symptoms of B-vitamin deficiency include tension, irritability, poor concentration and anxiety. Fatigue – a common symptom of menopause – makes women feel deeply exhausted even though they haven’t done much physical activity throughout the day. B Vitamins help reduce the amount of stress on the adrenal glands, which are required to produce oestrogen during the menopause. They can be useful if you are suffering from reduced energy levels. It is important to take a complex and a formulation that you can absorb with no nasty fillers. Vitamin C Vitamin C is essential to the manufacture of collagen. Collagen provides skin its elasticity. It helps prevent and treat vaginal dryness, a painful condition which develops when the vagina loses some of its ‘stretch’. Vitamin C can be easy to miss out on if you are watching your weight and possibly on a keto or restricted diet. Vitamin D This vitamin plays a very important role in the prevention of breast cancer, heart disease, type 2 diabetes and osteoporosis. We don’t get it naturally from food in sufficient amounts so the sun or a supplement is required. Again, you really need to ensure you take a balanced amount along with other key nutrients and select the active form, Vitamin D3. Vitamin E Vitamin E is also helpful for vaginal dryness and has been proven to help reduce hot flushes. It can dampen the immune system which can be beneficial for some ladies as a short term assistant for hormonal balance. Iron Iron is required to help your red blood cells transport oxygen to the rest of the body. Men store more iron compared to women and the loss of blood each month during menstruation means that women require more iron than men. A deficiency of iron will result in anaemia, which makes you feel sluggish and tired all the time. It is really important to have a blood test to check your iron and ferritin levels as you do not want to take a supplement and potential cause iron toxicity. Omega 3 Fatty Acids Symptoms of a deficiency in Omega 3 fatty acids can include dry skin, lifeless hair, cracked nails, fatigue, depression, dry eyes, aching joints, and breast pain. Omega 3 supplements have been shown to reduce the frequency of hot flushes and improve depressive symptoms in menopausal women. Magnesium Magnesium plays a vital role in 300 different enzymatic functions. It is essential in maintaining optimum bone health, which is increasingly important during the menopause. Known as “nature’s tranquiliser”, magnesium supplementation assists mood and anxiety. Picking the correct formulation for your symptoms is critical for success. Calcium Calcium is needed by the body to maintain bones, teeth, nails and hair. It is also required for healthy heart rhythm and blood pressure. To minimise the symptoms of menopause and maintain healthy bone mass, make sure to supply your body with these nutrients throughout the day. Dairy foods have become increasingly common to be eliminated from the diet of women for various reasons which can unfortunately leave ladies in deficit. Kale, spinach and tofu, are some examples of calcium rich non-dairy foods. These nuggets are just a few simple suggestions for a menopause diet. Dietary and lifestyle changes are integral in the stages of menopause. If you wish to explore this further Gillian Killiner is a dietary expert and lifestyle coach. She has helped thousands of women over her 22 years as a Dietitian. She would be delighted to help you… For more medical information on the menopause If you are unsure of how to change your eating habits, or need help optimising the foods you eat please do contact us. We would love to help you or your family and friends with any nutrition related queries big or small. In the meantime do please check out our 121Dietitian Shop If you have enjoyed this blog we would love you to share this with your family and friends on your social media channels. Why not visit our YouTube Channel for more on keeping your health optimal. How can a Dietitian help Book a consultation via our Online Portal About Gillian Killiner Check out our tailored dietary programmes Gillian x [instagram-feed] Revised 27th December 2022
Metabolic syndrome – are you at risk?
Metabolic syndrome – It’s estimated that 25% of the world’s population has “Syndrome X.” Sounds like a spy code and sadly it can be as deadly if not dealt with. Syndrome X is the underlying factor for a whole host of common health problems we treat every day at our clinic. In a nutshell, Metabolic syndrome “Syndrome X” is a cluster of simple abnormalities leading to hyperglycemia, hyperinsulinemia, and glucose intolerance followed by reduced insulin sensitivity, further leading to hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, obesity, and T2 Diabetes. What’s going on in Metabolic Syndrome? Insulin resistance is a condition where your body produces insulin but doesn’t use it properly. Insulin (a hormone secreted by the pancreas) helps your body use glucose for energy. When you’re healthy, your digestive system breaks your food down into glucose. This is absorbed into the bloodstream and travels throughout your body. As your blood glucose level rises after eating, the pancreas releases insulin to help your cells take in and use the glucose. This is a normal process and all settles pretty quickly until the next time. But when someone is insulin resistant, the cells in their muscle, fat, and liver don’t respond like they should to insulin. They “lock the door” and won’t let the glucose in. As a result, their body needs MORE insulin to help glucose enter their cells. This increases stress on the pancreas which is trying to keep up with this increased demand for insulin, but eventually the pancreas fails. The excess glucose then builds up in your bloodstream, and you are on route to Type II diabetes. The hidden dangers of Syndrome X (insulin resistance) People with metabolic syndrome are at a greater risk for developing these medical problems as well: * High blood pressure * Elevated triglycerides * Coronary artery disease * Heart attack * Obesity How Metabolic Syndrome happens Insulin resistance is largely due to eating a daily diet of refined carbohydrates (sugars, white flour, white rice, pasta, bread, cake, biscuits and all products made with them. There are thousands of them you would never realise). This over time takes its toll on your body. Also important and needs more research is the role of genetics as well as a deficiency in Omega-3 essential fatty acids. We now know about eating too many refined carbohydrates, but do you know about Omega -3? Omega-3 Omega-3 fatty acids (EPA and DHA) are found at every level of your body. They’re a major part of your cell membranes where they help control cell signalling, immune responses, inflammation and other metabolic functions. Including the production and release of insulin. EPA and DHA are important building blocks of nearly every organ and organ system and play a crucial role in your health. Your body depends on having the appropriate balance of Omega-6 to Omega-3 fatty acids. Having an imbalance leads to inflammation, sickness and disease. An estimated 6 out of 10 in western societies have far too much Omega-6. They are also seriously low in Omega-3. This is because our typical diet of convenient processed foods and lots of processed meat is heavy in Omega-6 fatty acids. The studies prove it Many studies have been performed that show when animals are fed a diet high in Omega-6 oils, they become insulin resistant and obese. But when the animals were given Omega-3 their metabolism became normal. Even when they continued to eat lots of Omega-6 fats. Prevent metabolic syndrome – What you can do To avoid being a Syndrome X statistic, it’s essential to ensure that you follow a suitable dietary intake for your health, take exercise, lose weight if required. Ensure where possible you are not elevating your blood sugars and creating insulin resistance. It is important your body has essential Omega-3 fatty acids and consciously avoid foods high in omega 6. You may require several supplements initially. This will ensure you are nutritionally optimal to allow your body to heal itself. Picking the correct supplement to your needs is crucial to get right. It can be a minefield and so if you have any concerns with: blood pressure, cholesterol and lipid levels, weight gain, excess weight around your abdomen, blood sugar control issues… we can help you so do get in touch. 121 Dietitian are the experts assisting you in turning the clock back on inflammatory health concerns. Nutritional programmes are completely created to suit you. They take into account your food likes and dislikes, your activity levels, your abilities to cook, if you have a family to include, if you travel with your job, your health parameters, your blood tests, body composition and much more…. The most worrying fact about metabolic syndrome: Even if you don’t have any of the associated health issues as mentioned at present in your body, it can still be showing normal while you have problems starting 10-15 years in advance. The body can store up problems and this is a certainty if you are eating incorrectly and slowly gaining weight. Don’t get to the stage where your body and bloods are showing ill health. Unsure of how to change your eating habits, or need help optimising the foods you eat please do contact us. We would love to help you or your family and friends with any nutrition related queries big or small. In the meantime do please check out our 121Dietitian Shop If you have enjoyed this blog we would love you to share this with your family and friends on your social media channels. Why not visit our YouTube Channel for more on keeping your health optimal. How can a Dietitian help Book a consultation via our Online Portal About Gillian Killiner Check out our tailored dietary programmes Gillian x [instagram-feed]
Could fitness technology be causing you to gain weight?
Are you one of the many thousands of people who has invested in a piece of fitness technology or fitness tracker app in recent years? If so, you might want to read on… I have been a Dietitian for over 20 years and have observed the many nutritional changes and fads (fitness technology) that come and go. However, over the past two years, I have noticed an increasing but new reason as to why my clients are requesting advice for weight loss and healthy eating. They are coming to me totally confused and despondent. After originally embarking on a positive health change themselves, making a conscious effort to track their food and exercise, they have found instead of weight loss and health; additional weight gain and sluggishness from the commencement of using the gadget or app they purchased one to two years previous. Doing a little investigation, I am not alone in these findings and a research paper from JAMA September 20, 2016, entitled: ‘Effect of Wearable Technology Combined With a Lifestyle Intervention on Long-term Weight Loss: The IDEA Randomized Clinical Trial‘, found that the group selected to wear technology did not lose as much weight as the group who followed regular advice and exercise. Interesting indeed. As always, there are various factors involved behind research findings and as expected, limitations. However, what I took from this study in particular was the time factor: it was monitored for a full 24 months. Other studies have shown different results with 9 months or 6 months but when looking at a full two years, the study highlights that using technology doesn’t provide all the answers and the results are disappointing. So what now with fitness technology? Well, it is not time to throw out the technology just yet! What is however important to focus on – and what I feel is the most important element – is support. I know with my own personal health and well-being, if I did not belong to a running group I would not run the length of myself!! I do believe that support is still the foundation to success and people benefit from either individual or group support when needing advice and change. I’m sure like me you have all tried to do something new or different; from watching cooking shows, to learning an instrument. If teaching yourself, it is a really big challenge and commitment. Our self-doubt and often our over ambitious desires can derail our smallest but valid attempts and efforts. Putting this into something useful for you going forward…. Support is important, and one size does not fit all. Technology can only contribute to a portion of the puzzle when it comes to health. The watch may say ‘500 kcals burned’ but has your body the capability to metabolise at the rate the watch is set at? If you are not getting results you need to seek a personalised assessment and plan. For me the bottom line is this… whatever group or individual you choose, you need to know they have evidence to back up what they are providing. The support needs to be realistic, enjoyable and you need to be comfortable to see this advice through for the rest of your life. Knowing you are not alone and that you have expert support as required is golden. If you are unsure of how to change your eating habits, or need help optimising the foods you eat please do contact us. We would love to help you or your family and friends with any nutrition related queries big or small. In the meantime do please check out our 121Dietitian Shop If you have enjoyed this blog we would love you to share this with your family and friends on your social media channels. Why not visit our YouTube Channel for more on keeping your health optimal. How can a Dietitian help Book a consultation via our Online Portal About Gillian Killiner Check out our tailored dietary programmes Gillian x [instagram-feed] Information checked & correct on 16th May 2018 and Jan 2021.
Is coffee good or bad for you? All you need to know
Coffee has been researched over and over and over, and why not! A universally consumed drink, it is complex, with over a thousand different substances present. So is it actually good for you, or should we avoid it completely? Here, we separate the facts from the fiction so that you can make an informed decision on its consumption. For years, researchers have warned us to avoid coffee because it might increase the risk of heart disease and affect growth. They worried that people could become addicted to the energy that high amounts of caffeine provided, leading them to crave more and more coffee as they became tolerant to higher amounts of caffeine. Experts also worried that coffee had damaging effects on the digestive tract, which could lead to stomach ulcers, heartburn and other ills. All of this concern stems from studies carried out decades ago that compared coffee drinkers to non-drinkers on a number of health measures, including heart problems and mortality. Coffee drinkers, it seemed, were always worse off. But it turns out that coffee drinkers were not compared fairly. Those studies didn’t always check for other factors that could account for poor health, such as smoking, drinking and a lack of physical activity. If people who drank a lot of coffee also happened to have some other unhealthy habits, then it’s not clear that coffee is responsible for their heart problems or higher mortality. That understanding has led to a rehabilitated reputation for the drink. Recent research reveals that once the proper adjustments are made for confounding factors, coffee drinkers don’t seem to have a higher risk for heart problems or cancer than people who don’t drink coffee. Recent studies also found no significant link between the caffeine in coffee and heart-related issues such as high cholesterol, irregular heartbeats, stroke or heart attack. Is coffee actually good for you? Studies show that people who drink coffee regularly may have an 11% lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes than non-drinkers, thanks to ingredients in coffee that can affect levels of hormones involved in metabolism. In a large study involving tens of thousands of people, researchers found that people who drank several cups a day—anywhere from two to four cups—actually had a lower risk of stroke. Heart experts say the benefits may come from coffee’s effect on the blood vessels; by keeping vessels flexible and healthy, it may reduce the risk of atherosclerosis, which can cause heart attacks. Some studies now suggest that decaf and caffeinated coffee may have the same health effects and suggest that it’s not just the caffeine that is responsible for coffee’s health benefits. Coffee is high in antioxidants, which are known to fight the oxidative damage that can cause cancer. That may explain why some studies have found a lower risk of liver cancer among coffee drinkers. Coffee has also been suggested to help you live longer. A recent study involving more than 208,000 men and women found that people who drank coffee regularly were less likely to die prematurely than those who didn’t drink coffee. Researchers believe that some of the chemicals in coffee may help reduce inflammation, which has been found to play a role in a number of ageing-related health problems, including dementia and Alzheimer’s. Some evidence also suggests that coffee may slow down some of the metabolic processes that drive ageing. One negative is that people may become dependent on caffeine and if stopped will cause withdrawal symptoms. The symptoms—headaches, irritability and fatigue—can mimic those of people coming off addictive drugs. Yet fortunately the dependence is nothing close to or as worrisome as addictions to habit-forming drugs like opiates. While unpleasant, caffeine “withdrawal” symptoms are tolerable and tend to go away after a day or so. How much coffee is safe? Like so many foods and nutrients, too much coffee can cause problems, especially in the digestive tract. But studies have shown that drinking up to four cups of coffee per day is safe. Moderation is key. For now, sipping coffee in reasonable amounts just might be one of the healthiest things you can do. If you have side effects however do reduce your intake to a level that is comfortable for you. If you have any concerns about how to get healthier please get in touch. We are experts in nutrition and able to assist you with all health issues. If you are unsure of how to change your eating habits, or need help optimising the foods you eat please do contact us. We would love to help you or your family and friends with any nutrition related queries big or small. In the meantime do please check out our 121Dietitian Shop If you have enjoyed this blog we would love you to share this with your family and friends on your social media channels. Why not visit our YouTube Channel for more on keeping your health optimal. How can a Dietitian help Book a consultation via our Online Portal About Gillian Killiner Check out our tailored dietary programmes Gillian x [instagram-feed] Information checked & correct on 16th May 2018.
