Our personal trainer client Nick in Virginia Water recently had his annual BUPA health check. As well as doing tremendously well his doctor had some other interesting advice. Although you may be eating really well, and having lots of fibre, lean protein, fruit and vegetables, if everything going down your throat is a similar colour (brownish for example) than you need to try to eat more primary coloured foods. These bright colours (reds, yellows, greens, oranges) are indicative of foods that contain micro-nutrients that are not found in other things.

Many clients that have their BUPA health checks done also suffer from being too good-that have all read or heard that too much red meat can cause CHD (chronic heart disease) and arterial problems later on in life. However by avoiding it altogether people can end up with a low red blood cell count and low iron. So long as the red meat is of good quality (filet, sirloin, rump) and has had the fat cut off then red meat is good for you. Don’t have it every day but a least once a week is the recommendation of us here at Diets Don’t Work.

So to ensure that you are getting all the micro nutrients as well as all the main vitamins and minerals that you need to look like a young svelte gazelle and be mistaken for someone half your age, eat some lean red meat with primary coloured vegetables!

The egg marketing board was recently stopped from advertising eggs as a stand alone breakfast. This is course implies that you would have eggs on their own (unlikely, toast or soldiers anyone?) and more importantly that eggs have too much cholesterol in them which might lead to high cholesterol levels in the blood. Here is the DDW opinion:

eggs are a fantastic food that contain a huge number of vitamins and minerals that are required by the body for optimal health and growth. They are also an excellent and affordable source of protein, which is needed to provide essential amino acids to the body.

One large hard-boiled egg only contains 78 calories and 5.3g of fat, with only 1.6 of those grams of fat being saturated fat, which are not good for the body and can lead to cardiovascular and heart disease.

The level of cholesterol in eggs is high (212mg in 1 large hard-boiled egg), however recent research has discovered that the level of cholesterol contained in a food, has little significance to the amount of cholesterol contained in a person’s blood. Cholesterol levels in the blood are also controlled by exercise, have a look at our success stories page see our personal trainer client from Virginia Water Nick.

In other words, if you consume a food that is rich in cholesterol, it does not mean that the cholesterol levels in your blood will rise. It has been discovered that it is in fact the amount of saturated fat in a food that is responsible for the rise in a person’s blood cholesterol levels and is a risk factor of heart disease. Foods such as cakes, biscuits, crisps and processed foods are high in saturated fats.

As a result of these recent findings, healthy people do not have to limit their consumption of eggs to two a week, as they could be losing out on the many other beneficial properties of eggs.

Eggs also provide significant amounts of vitamin A, B, D and E and are rich in calcium, iron, selenium, phosphorous, potassium, riboflavin, sodium and magnesium. They are low in sugar and do not contain any carbohydrates.

So as with all things don’t have 10 a day, be sure to have lots of veg and some fruit, proceed with moderation but don’t be afraid of eggs!

Many misconceptions surround eating and exercise. Some people avoid food before a workout because they worry they’ll get nauseated or have cramps. Others don’t eat in the morning because they think they’ll burn more fat if they move on an empty stomach. Some athletes assume that hunger pangs before practice are a good thing, because they think that their body is diverting all its energy to the workout instead of digestion.

None of these beliefs are true.

The bottom line is this: When you expend energy by exercising, you need to consume extra energy to fuel the activity. How much you should eat and at what time of day depends on the type and duration of your workout, as well as when you last ate and what was on the menu.

Ideally, how much energy your body uses (how many calories you burn) and how much energy your body takes in (how many calories you eat) should be in balance all day. Keep in mind that your body burns around 100 calories an hour at rest and during sleep, so you don’t just need energy for exercise, you need food throughout the day to fuel being alive. If you are highly active, if you eat big meals, or if you go for long periods without eating, you can upset this balance and cause extreme energy highs (surpluses) or lows (deficits.)

When you first wake up, you are likely to be low on energy. It works like this: If, the night before, you ate dinner at 7 p.m. and then nothing else until breakfast at 7 a.m., you would have gone 12 hours without added fuel. Your body may have burned around 1,100 calories during this period. Most of the fuel used would have come from your stored fat and glycogen (carbs).

But you have a limited supply of carbs because they are stored only in small amounts in your liver and muscles. Even though the body has plenty of fat stored, for fat to be “burned”, or metabolized, carbs need to be present. Often, the liver’s carb stores are nearly depleted by the morning, so many people may wake up in the morning in a state of energy deficit, where there are not enough carbs to provide energy and to help utilize fat.. So they need breakfast to infuse more energy into their body.

If you skip breakfast and do a tough workout, you launch a depleted body into even greater depletion. Say you burn 500 calories during the workout. By the time you eat later that morning, you may have dipped into an energy deficit of 1,600 calories (that is, 1,100 calories burned while you sleep, plus 500 from the workout). Now your body is famished for fuel. However, you may not feel hungry in this state (known as “ketosis”) because your body has shifted to starvation mode to preserve its resources. Diminished hunger is one of the side effects. But a lack of stomach rumblings  doesn’t mean your body doesn’t need fuel—it does. In fact, at some point it will demand more fuel—you’ll likely binge and go into a huge energy surplus to compensate. This ends up being a roller-coaster calorie ride for your body.

In another scenario, if you overeat and are inactive, you can find yourself in a state of energy surplus. So let’s say you eat a big lunch at 1 p.m. (cheeseburger, fries, shake) and take in around 1,200 calories. Then you sit at your desk and burn about 500 calories until it’s time for dinner at 6. In this case, you may enter the meal in a energy surplus of 700 calories (1,200 calories from lunch, minus the 500 you burned sitting at your desk). If for dinner, you ate another big meal of 1,000 calories (fettuccini alfredo, a soda and dessert ), you could end up with a larger surplus of around 1,700 calories. If you remain sedentary for the rest of the evening, not much of that will be burned off. Then the next morning if you wake up to a big breakfast, your body stays in positive energy balance. This is a recipe for weight gain.

Dramatic calorie highs and lows aren’t good for you. Researchers at the University of Georgia studied the eating patterns of athletes and found that that men and women had higher levels of body fat when their eating patterns fluctuated wildly throughout the day, even if they were in energy balance by the end of the day. In addition, they had worse muscle mass, lower energy levels and poor mental focus compared to athletes who ate consistently over the course of the day. Those athletes who ate regular, small meals, and more before, during and after intense workout sessions, showed the best performance in their sports and were the leanest.

The moral? For optimum performance, match your energy intake to your hourly energy needs. Of course, short of living in a laboratory, there’s no sure-fire way to know your precise energy-balance status. Still, you can avoid drastic energy fluctuations by eating small-to-moderate sized meals every three or four hours. And if you are going to do intense or long exercise sessions, eat more before and during to compensate.

Many misconceptions surround eating and exercise. Some people avoid food before a workout because they worry they’ll get nauseated or have cramps. Others don’t eat in the morning because they think they’ll burn more fat if they move on an empty stomach. Some athletes assume that hunger pangs before practice are a good thing, because they think that their body is diverting all its energy to the workout instead of digestion.

None of these beliefs are true.

The bottom line is this: When you expend energy by exercising, you need to consume extra energy to fuel the activity. How much you should eat and at what time of day depends on the type and duration of your workout, as well as when you last ate and what was on the menu.

Ideally, how much energy your body uses (how many calories you burn) and how much energy your body takes in (how many calories you eat) should be in balance all day. Keep in mind that your body burns around 100 calories an hour at rest and during sleep, so you don’t just need energy for exercise, you need food throughout the day to fuel being alive. If you are highly active, if you eat big meals, or if you go for long periods without eating, you can upset this balance and cause extreme energy highs (surpluses) or lows (deficits.)

When you first wake up, you are likely to be low on energy. It works like this: If, the night before, you ate dinner at 7 p.m. and then nothing else until breakfast at 7 a.m., you would have gone 12 hours without added fuel. Your body may have burned around 1,100 calories during this period. Most of the fuel used would have come from your stored fat and glycogen (carbs).

But you have a limited supply of carbs because they are stored only in small amounts in your liver and muscles. Even though the body has plenty of fat stored, for fat to be “burned”, or metabolized, carbs need to be present. Often, the liver’s carb stores are nearly depleted by the morning, so many people may wake up in the morning in a state of energy deficit, where there are not enough carbs to provide energy and to help utilize fat.. So they need breakfast to infuse more energy into their body.

If you skip breakfast and do a tough workout, you launch a depleted body into even greater depletion. Say you burn 500 calories during the workout. By the time you eat later that morning, you may have dipped into an energy deficit of 1,600 calories (that is, 1,100 calories burned while you sleep, plus 500 from the workout). Now your body is famished for fuel. However, you may not feel hungry in this state (known as “ketosis”) because your body has shifted to starvation mode to preserve its resources. Diminished hunger is one of the side effects. But a lack of stomach rumblings  doesn’t mean your body doesn’t need fuel—it does. In fact, at some point it will demand more fuel—you’ll likely binge and go into a huge energy surplus to compensate. This ends up being a roller-coaster calorie ride for your body.

In another scenario, if you overeat and are inactive, you can find yourself in a state of energy surplus. So let’s say you eat a big lunch at 1 p.m. (cheeseburger, fries, shake) and take in around 1,200 calories. Then you sit at your desk and burn about 500 calories until it’s time for dinner at 6. In this case, you may enter the meal in a energy surplus of 700 calories (1,200 calories from lunch, minus the 500 you burned sitting at your desk). If for dinner, you ate another big meal of 1,000 calories (fettuccini alfredo, a soda and dessert ), you could end up with a larger surplus of around 1,700 calories. If you remain sedentary for the rest of the evening, not much of that will be burned off. Then the next morning if you wake up to a big breakfast, your body stays in positive energy balance. This is a recipe for weight gain.

Dramatic calorie highs and lows aren’t good for you. Researchers at the University of Georgia studied the eating patterns of athletes and found that that men and women had higher levels of body fat when their eating patterns fluctuated wildly throughout the day, even if they were in energy balance by the end of the day. In addition, they had worse muscle mass, lower energy levels and poor mental focus compared to athletes who ate consistently over the course of the day. Those athletes who ate regular, small meals, and more before, during and after intense workout sessions, showed the best performance in their sports and were the leanest.

The moral? For optimum performance, match your energy intake to your hourly energy needs. Of course, short of living in a laboratory, there’s no sure-fire way to know your precise energy-balance status. Still, you can avoid drastic energy fluctuations by eating small-to-moderate sized meals every three or four hours. And if you are going to do intense or long exercise sessions, eat more before and during to compensate.

To lose weight and get smaller you need to create an energy deficit; you must take in less energy that you expend. In physics terms 2llb of fat is equal to a deficit of 500 calories a day. At first this may sound like a lot, but if you are eating the right foods you can still undercut and not go hungry. Similar to the glycaemic index experts at the University of Sydney have come up with the satiety index, a list of the top 10 foods that fill you up the most. As with any survey or nutritional advice of this kind it’s important to remember that nutrition is a field in which there are many contradictions and contentious issues. The key is to keep it as natural as possible, eat small meals often and exercise in a structured and focused way. The list below can help eaters choose foods wisely in order to minimise calorific intake while staying full. There are also lots of useful tips on our nutrition fact sheet. You can download this for free from our “Knowledge” page.

What is the ‘Satiety Index’? At its simplest, the satiety index, is a measure of how long a particular food will stop you from feeling hungry.  It was first developed by Dr Susanne Holt back in 1995.  Holt and her colleagues fed volunteers 240 calorie portions of a wide variety of different foods in an attempt to discover which would be the most filling.  The foods were served from under a hood to minimize the influence of appearance, and, if possible, they were served at the same temperature and in the same size chunks.
After eating, the volunteers told the researchers what their appetite ratings were, but they were not allowed anything else for the next two hours. Then, after two hours, they were allowed to eat from a small buffet where the scientists measured how much they nibbled from a variety of other foods. Their consumption was closely monitored, and every 15 minutes they were questioned about their hunger to see if their subjective impression of satisfaction matched their eating behaviour. Using this information, Holt and her colleagues were able to put together the satiety index .  White bread was taken as the baseline of 100 and other foods were scored on their comparative ability to satisfy hunger.  Foods scoring higher than 100 were more satisfying than white bread whereas those scoring under 100 were less satisfying.

So, what are the top ten most filling foods?

1.    Potatoes (323% more satisfying than white bread)
2.    Fish (225%)
3.    Porridge/Oats/Oatmeal (209%)
4.    Apples (197%) and Oranges (202%)
5.    Wholewheat Pasta (188%)
6.    Beef (176%)
7.    Beans (168%)
8.    Grapes (162%)
9.    Wholemeal Bread (157%)
10.   Popcorn (154%)
What Makes These Foods So Filling?

Protein: Protein has been shown by numerous studies to be one of the most satiating nutrients.  Scientists at the National Institute for Medical Research in France have recently discovered that during its digestion, glucose is produced in the small intestine. The liver senses this and relays a message to the brain to slow down or stop eating — an effect that lasts well after the food has been swallowed.   

Fibre: Unlike protein, fibre promotes satiety by slowing the rate at which the food is actually digested.  It also triggers stretch receptors in the stomach which automatically sends a signal to the brain to stop eating.  

Water Content: Foods with a high fluid content such as apples, oranges and grapes also trigger the stretch receptors however, they are mostly made of water and sugars therefore the speed at which they are digested means that, unlike most other high S.I foods initial feelings of fullness can drop of fairly quickly.  “This is why” explains Dr Holt “ that when a dieter eats a meal based on several pieces of fruit and some rice cakes (also very quick to digest) they invariably feel ravenous a few hours later.  Despite the meal being low in fat and calories it isn’t at all filling.  Far better to eat a wholesome salad sandwich on wholegrain bread with some lean protein like tuna or beef and an apple. This kind of meal can keep hunger at bay for a very long time.”

Volume: Another thing that increases a food’s S.I rating is its bulk.  Popcorn for example only contains 55 calories per cup but it takes up a lot of space in the stomach helping to create the feelings of fullness.  Fat on the other hand is the exact opposite.  At 9 Kcal per gram fat is the most energy dense nutrient we can eat.  Just one tablespoon of clotted cream has almost four times more calories than a whole cup of popcorn and yet it takes up far less space in the stomach making it incredibly easy to over consume.  Fat greatly enhances the taste of a food too, another reason why we find it so easy to over consume.

Chemical Compounds: The chemical constituents of foods can also make a difference to satiety.  Beans and lentils, for example, contain anti-nutrients which delay their absorption.  Another reason why they have a tendency to make you feel full for longer.

Chewing: Chewing promotes satiety, partly because it slows down eating but also because it encourages the release of enzymes that register fullness in the brain.

They spit. And sometimes blow snot out of their noses in front of millions. I’m not talking about water bison on the nature channel, but of course a world cup footballer. Some of them are charming, eligible and good looking I’m sure, but they are all jolly fit and toned, so what can we learn from how they eat? Meticulous menu planning has been one of the biggest changes to footballers’ lives since England won the World Cup in 1966 when a diet of chip butties, ketchup, tea and a packet of Rothmans was still seen as acceptable preparation. Modern footballers like all professional athletes have carefully planned nutrition that usually incorporates the following:

• Smaller meals more often for even energy levels and fat burning metabolic bursts
• An all natural approach excluding saturated fats, cholesterol, processed carbohydrates and refined sugars
• High energy foods before matches with steady energy release, like pasta, oats, and rice
• Plenty of lean protein for muscle maintenance and building
• Lots of vegetables

Eating foods like these also benefits ordinary people like us, making us fuller for less calories, giving us even blood sugar levels and so controlling cravings.Although take it easy on the pasta unless you are going to be exercising hard in about 2 hours time. The official shopping list of England’s world cup squad shows a distinct New Age influence too with seaweed sheets, pine nuts, sushi rice, organic chocolate and jasmine tea all making the cut — as have brown sauce and custard. The official list of food requested by the Football Association to fuel Fabio Capello’s finest inSouth Africa reflects modern fiery tastes with Tabasco sauce, Wasabi paste, chili dipping sauce and English mustard all in the line-up. Nutritionists said the choice of hot sauces reflected current thinking that footballers need exciting food to stop them getting bored with their carefully controlled diets. Tesco nutritionist Laura Street said: “Sports nutrition has changed since England won the World Cup in 1966 when no attention was particularly paid to footballers’ diets and meal plans. “It is always important to enjoy food but if the players become bored with what’s on the menu they’re likely to eat less and that will affect their performance.”

Capello is known to be obsessive about the importance of diet and has asked former Hollywood chef Tim De’Ath to draw up menus. He has devised the “perfect snack” for the players to eat — oatcakes with cottage cheese or salmon.

So we can see here that although the basic all natural approach (or wholefood diet as it is more widely known) may sound a bit boring there are plenty of ways of spicing it up; you don’t just have to eat brown rice, steamed veg and lean grilled fish and chicken. Although if you did eat this in small portions for a few weeks I can guarantee that you will lose size and probably weight!

Good luck with the world cup, just think of all the free shopping hours you have away from a grumpy man trying to

1. speed up the shop
2. moan about how bored he is
3. point out that you have more than enough shoes
4. lurk in the lingerie section

As with all nutritional things there is a sea of contradictions. One report in a women’s magazine may say that celebrity a can’t go near them. The next week the same magazine may well have a piece in it where celebrity B eats only bananas.

So what’s the scoop? Here is the nutritional label for a banana.

Eating processed meats, such as bacon, ham and sausages, can increase the risk of heart disease and diabetes, research suggests. Processed meats are already linked to a higher chance of developing bowel cancer but a round-up of research has now shown a link with other conditions. Now remember that all these reports should be taken with a pinch of salt (ha ha) andthat moderation are the key as I keep preaching. You would think that a health guru like myself would never ever have sausages, but I have been known to have the odd cooked breakfast here and there, but just not all the time. The 80%/20% rule is a great one to follow. Be good by eating natural meats/fish, fruit (sparingly) nuts and seeds (sparingly), pulses, beans and vegetables 80% of the time, exercise efficiently, and then you can enjoy not so perfect food for the other 20% of the time.As a bit of a saltaholic it might also be a good idea to get a lowsalt brand like lo-salt into the kitchen. These give you the taste of salt with potassium (good) but cut down on the damaging areterial clogging sodium. Anyway, here’s the report!

A review by the Harvard Public School of Health examined 20 worldwide published studies involving more than a million people. It found a 42% higher risk of heart disease and a 19% increased risk of type 2 diabetes for each daily serving, on average, of 50g of processed meat. A 50g serving is roughly equivalent to two rashers of bacon or one hot dog. Unprocessed red meats, such as beef, pork or lamb, do not raise the risk. Researchers believe the levels of salt and preservatives in processed meat could explain the disparity. The study defined processed meat as any meat preserved by smoking, curing or salting, or with chemical preservatives added to it. Such meats include bacon, salami, sausages, hot dogs and processed deli or luncheon meats.

Writing online in the journal Circulation, the authors said:

“Consumption of processed meats, but not red meats, is associated with higher incidence of coronary heart disease and diabetes mellitus (type 2). These results highlight the need for better understanding of potential mechanisms of effects and for particular focus on processed meats for dietary and policy recommendations.”

The authors said that studies had until now shown an inconsistent link between meat, heart disease and diabetes. They found the effects held true even when lifestyle factors were taken into account. Lead author. Renata Micha, a research fellow in the department of epidemiology, said: “When we looked at average nutrients in unprocessed red and processed meats eaten in the United States, we found that they contained similar average amounts of saturated fat and cholesterol. In contrast, processed meats contained, on average, four times more sodium and 50% more nitrate preservatives. This suggests that differences in salt and preservatives, rather than fats, might explain the higher risk of heart disease and diabetes seen with processed meats, but not with unprocessed red meats.”

Salt is known to increase blood pressure, which in turn increases the risk of heart disease. Studies on animals have shown that nitrate preservatives can cause a buildup of hard deposits in the arteries and reduce the body’s ability to handle sugars, which can increase the risk of heart disease and diabetes.

“To lower risk of heart attacks and diabetes, people should consider which types of meats they are eating,” said Micha. Processed meats such as bacon, salami, sausages, hot dogs and processed deli meats may be the most important to avoid. Based on our findings, eating one serving per week or less would be associated with relatively small risk.”

Two rashers of bacon a day throughout life has been linked to a 20% increase in the risk of developing bowel cancer. Men in the UK eat an average of nearly 50g of processed meat a day compared with just 24g for women, research has shown. The average person has a risk of bowel cancer of five in 100, but this rises to six in 100 if they eat an extra 50g of processed meat per day, according to the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF). Their scientists estimate that about 10% of the 37,000 new cases of bowel cancer in the UK each year could be prevented if everyone ate less than 70g of processed meat a week – roughly three rashers of bacon. Victoria Taylor, senior heart health dietician at the British Heart Foundation, said red meat could form part of a healthy, balanced diet if properly prepared.

“Go for lean cuts and aim to cook from scratch using healthier cooking methods like grilling or baking,” she said.

“If you need to add flavour, then try using fresh and dried herbs, spices and chilli instead of salt.”

We are constantly being told to avoid fat by the media and science, but fat does actually have a purpose and it’s dangerous to avoid it totally. Here are some of the types of fat what they do:

• Saturated fat-it’s mostly found in animal sources but is also present in some plants. This type of fat is important for the nervous system and the cells in our body. This fat can be found in meat, eggs, dairy, coconut and palm oil.
• Monounsaturated fat-this is found in both animal and plant sources and helps protect us from heart disease.
• Polyunsaturated fat- found in fish and plant sources it is very important our cells and proper brain function.

So even saturated fat has it’s purpose, and as with all nutritional advice that we give as Diets Don’t Work personal trainers the key is to be moderate in all things, be good for most of the time and have fun with food while exercising to counter balance the treats.

An article in the Independent this week warns that it’s more important than ever to be careful when chomping into  junk food. There is a danger that you might just get addicted..

In tests on rats researchers found that the rodents quickly became highly dependant on high calorie snacks made from sausage, bacon and cheesecake (I know, what a mix!!) and rejected healthy foods even when the supply of junk food was turned off. The rats found the junk food so irresistible that they would risk receiving an electric shock to get hold of it. The junk food rats “totally lost control over their eating behaviour, the primary hallmark of addiction” said Professor Paul Kenny of the Scripps Research Institute in Jupiter, Florida where the study was carried out. Moreover brain scans revealed that the rats soon became desensitised to the “high” that they got from the high calorie food in the same way that drug addicts do, with a drop in the number of pleasure processing D-2 receptors in the brain. As a result, they had to consume more and more of the junk food to get the same reward.

So be careful and as we always say to our personal training clients try to do everything in moderation. If you eat sensibly most of the time (we try to encourage a 80/20% ratio of good sensible nutrition combined with the odd fast food or less healthy meal) and do good quality structured exercise (easier to sitck to with a personal trainer of course) then you will be both fit and slim but also be able to sustain your good efforts.

This one is false. Carbohydrates are the body’s preferred source of fuel, and we are designed to eat and digest them. Where the problems happen is that most of the carbohydrates in the supermarket are highly processed and have lots of bad things added to them, like hydrogenated fats, sugar, salt, e numbers and stabilisers. These carbohydrates will most likely make you fat, as they are hard for the body to process and contain fat and sugar, so have lots of calories even in a small amount. Unrefined carbohydrates, however, are very very good for us, providing not just fuel but also micro nutrients, vitamins, fibre and roughage. These are things like vegetables, fruit, and grains that have not been processed. Denying the body carbs, and having only protein can lead to weight loss, but there can be problems with the kidneys, a real lack of practical things to eat and also you will be missing out on many vitamins and minerals that are essential to a healthy body and mind. Also, if you eat too much of anything, be it steak or potatoes, it will make you fat, whether it’s carbohydrate or not. Remember that your size and weight are a simple equation, energy in vs energy out. If input is more than output you will be fat!! The key is to be as natural as possible, avoid anything with flour (processed carbohydrate) and sugar (processed carbohydrate), have a good balance of food groups, eat small amounts often and exercise then success will be yours. There is lots of further information on this on our nutrition fact sheet on the knowledge page. Good luck, and remember that if you are struggling a bit on your own, a personal trainer from Diets Don’t Work could really help kick start you, all block bookings of 6 or more personal training sessions include nutritional profiling and help, as well as structured tailor made exercise programmes.