Dr Rosemary Stanton

Read regular updates from nutritionist Dr Rosemary Stanton.

Watching your weight

It’s that time of the year when many people realise their waistline has expanded and decide they should do something about it. It’s a great idea because excess body fat greatly increases the risk of many problems, including diabetes, heart disease, strokes, several cancers (including bowel and breast) and kidney problems and is also linked with dementia.

The majority of Australian adults are now overweight or obese, although headlines proclaiming we are the fattest nation on earth are not true and were taken from a comparison of only a few countries. But we do need to tackle the expanding national girth!

There are three main aspects to excess body fat:

• our genes
• what we eat and drink
• how much we move our bodies.

We can’t do much about our genes, but we can take care to eat and drink less and to choose foods and drinks with fewer kilojoules. Most of us can also move more, whether that means walking a bit more or a bit faster, using every opportunity to get out of our chairs or taking up some specific exercise.

Other Fresh Food Articles

• Weight loss myths
• Ten tips to avoid weight problems in children
• Wise choices for your shopping trolley

Weight loss myths

Myth: Fast weight loss gives you a good start

Fact: Fast weight loss almost always returns and usually brings a few bonus kilos. You can’t burn off fat fast and the early rapid weight loss with very strict diets consists of the stores of carbohydrate in muscles (this is known as glycogen and is the fuel you need for exercise), the water stored with glycogen (each gram of glycogen is stored with 3 grams of water), and water that is lost when the body excretes the by-products of converting protein into glucose so the brain can function.

Myth: Overweight people have more fluid.

Fact: A lean body has up to 65% water whereas fluids may make up only 50% of the body weight of a fat person.

Myth: Most people who get fat have slow metabolism.

Fact: The bigger your body, the more kilojoules you use for metabolism. Few fat people suffer from slow metabolism although many find it takes so much energy to move that they may move less or more slowly and hence burn fewer kilojoules. However, once a larger person does move, they burn far more kilojoules than a smaller person.

Myth: Skipping meals is a good way to lose weight.

Fact: Studies show that most people who skip meals more than make up for the missing kilojoules later in the day. Better to eat three sensible meals each day. Many studies also show that those who eat breakfast are less likely to become overweight and almost everyone who loses weight and maintains their loss also eats breakfast.

Ten tips to avoid weight problems in children

25% of Australia’s children are overweight - victims of our obesogenic environment. Let’s not blame the victim. Instead let’s try to develop healthy eating and exercise habits. Here are some tips:

• When toddlers want to walk, let them. It takes longer but establishes good habits.
• The best exercise for children is unstructured outdoor play when children will run, jump and move constantly.
• Insist children taste each vegetable on the plate even if they don’t finish it.
• Encourage kids to grow some vegetables in the garden or in pots. And let them help you select fruit and vegies at the supermarket.
• Give children milk or plain water rather than sweet drinks.
• Make it a house rule that no one goes out in the mornings without breakfast. A smoothie or fruit and yoghurt is fast and easy on rushed days.
• Teach children to help prepare meals. A three-year-old can help toss a salad and a nine-year old should be able to prepare a simple meal.
• Children who sit at the table with adults generally develop better eating habits, more language skills hen they’re small and better social skills as they grow older.
• Children can understand the idea of ‘everyday’ and ‘sometimes’ foods, but you need to define ‘sometimes’ or a three-year-old will think ‘sometimes’ is right now rather than, say on Saturday evenings.
• If a child doesn’t eat the meal provided, tell them they may get hungry but you’ll see them at the next meal. No healthy child ever starved when food was available!

Wise choices for your shopping trolley

Make sure your supermarket trolley contains everyday foods, including:

• Fresh fruit – buy whatever is in season.
• Vegetables – either fresh or frozen.
• A good source of calcium such as reduced fat dairy products (milk, yoghurt, cheeses) or calcium-enriched beverages made from soy, oats or rice. Choose products that contain 120 mg calcium/100g.
• Protein rich foods such as lean meat, chicken, fish or other seafood (fresh or canned), eggs, legumes (such as dried or canned chick peas, lentils or any kind of beans), nuts and seeds (including nut butters as well as sunflower, pepitas or sesame seeds).
• Wholegrains such as rolled oats or muesli or a breakfast cereal made with wholewheat.
• Wholegrain or sour dough breads or loaves with added soy and seeds (these are all digested more slowly than other breads).
• Check the health food section for a great variety of grain-based foods such as quinoa, couscous, cracked wheat (for tabbouli or felafel), polenta and some of the many types of pasta.