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Blog- Food For Energy

Breakfast for Afternoon Tea

Corporate Nutrition Melbourne Blog - Blog- Food For Energy

Mixing up meal times has long been a habit of mine. Most probably think of cold pizza for breakfast on the weekend, or a large dessert style muffin for a late breakfast at work, as opposed to the opposite of consuming breakfast foods later in the day. I would like to throw a spanner in the typical way of thinking in our western society, and give you what I believe could be a tool to help shape the rest of your life.

Breakfast foods are so often hailed as being healthy, think about it, high fibre cereals, low GI wholegrain breads, high protein eggs, fruit and yoghurt, and smoothies, just to name a few. All these options are typically consumed for breakfast and do a very good job of kick starting your metabolism for the day, helping you feel energized, and staying full for 2-4hrs.

Now lets think of the typical lunch options in the city, large foccacias or baguettes made on high GI white bread, fried rice dishes, bento boxes with high GI jasmine rice and a piece of tempura/fried vegetables, steak sandwiches, and even salads that are laden in high kilojoule and fat dressings.

Yes I know there are some other good lunch options, and we can go into them another time, however think about it, why not order poached eggs with a side of mushrooms on wholegrain sour dough for lunch? You could even go the mexican beans with fetta over a slice of this bread. Why not have a warm bowl of oats and barley 1st (the only low GI quick sachet oats) with some cinnamon, vanilla essence and natural sweetener for an afternoon snack at work? When you get home, you could make yourself a smoothie, or better yet, get your workplace to put one in for everyone to share, and just make sure you have some frozen berries, yoghurt (which can be kept in the freezer to keep for longer and used in smoothies) and milk for a mid morning snack?

As you can see, having that bowl of cereal, or slice of toast with baked beans in the afternoon may just be the solution to your hunger pangs that leave you ravenous by the time you get home for dinner.

How easy would it be to cruise through the afternoon at work if you never got hungry?

Is your daily latte making you more tired?

Written by Kara

Corporate Nutrition Melbourne Blog - Blog- Food For Energy

When we think of a coffee, typically we think of the caffiene hit that makes us feel more alert, energized and ready to take on the rest of the day.

So how could your coffee be leaving you more tired?

This post actually has nothing to do with caffiene, but at the rather interesting fact that the calcium found in the milk your daily coffee provides, competes for absorption with iron, which is a nutrient which plays a big part in keeping your head switched on and preventing feelings of tiredness and lethargy.

Now I am not suggesting that you should be avoiding calcium sources in order to boost your energy at all, however if you are someone who is already deficient in iron (or believe you may be and are about to go and have a blood test that proves this theory correct), you would be advised to hold off consuming that large cafe style milk or soy based coffee close to the time that you are consuming an iron rich meal, be it either a teriyaki beef stir fry for lunch that may have typically been followed by a cafe latte, or an iron enriched breakfast cereal that you would typically consume with milk and a side cappuccino.

So for everyone who wants to get the most nutrients out of the foods that they eat, make sure you consume iron and calcium rich foods apart from each other.

..and on a side note back to the caffiene in the coffee- if you are having too much caffiene mid afternoon or in the evening, that ends up keeping you up at night when you want to be sleeping and resting up for the next day, make sure you cut back on this too- that is just straight forward.

Is spinach actually a good source of iron?

Corporate Nutrition Melbourne Blog - Blog- Food For Energy

Is spinach a good source of iron? Its time to clear up this misconception once and for all. Even today, as we walk through the supermarket, we see nutritional claims made above the fruits and vegetables (yes it is not only packaged foods that can be misleading).

Spinach is a vegetable that contains more iron than other vegetables in general, yes, this is true. However as the iron found in plant based foods is poorly absorbed, we only actually take in around 5% of the iron that claims to be present. Throw in the mix that often spinach is consumed with some form of calcium source (which competes for absorption), be it in an omlette with milk and cheese, or a salad topped with cheddar or fetta, the absorptive capacity is reduced even more.

End result, animal based sources of iron (haeme iron) are absorbed far better than plant based sources. We absorb 20% of the iron found in them.

To put it in relative terms, you would need to consume 9 chicken breasts, 2.5 pork chops, or 2 cups of tuna to get the same amount of iron as you would in 1 lean rump steak (and those are the well absorbed haeme iron sources, imagine how much spinach you would have to eat to get the same amount!).

End result, if you are low in iron, bumping up your lean red meat intake really should be your first dietary strategy. Speak with an accredited practicing dietitian if you would like some help coming up with an inspiring menu that can help you on your way, this is what they are there for!

Quick oats- really such a healthy breakfast option?

Corporate Nutrition Melbourne Blog - Blog- Food For Energy

As winter has finally crept in and the hearty porridge begins to surface on the breakfast table I thought it was only fitting to quickly cover the topic of whether or not this super healthy breakfast really deserves to be hailed as the king of breakfasts.

Traditional rolled oats are low in saturated fat and sodium, have a low GI and provide a bit of fibre. This being said, if made up with water, and not milk, although you will consume less total kilojoules/calories, you really will not be getting much protein to help you feel full. One typical serving of traditional rolled oats, will usually provide around 3g of fibre. As a dietitian, I would think that you should be able to consume far more fibre in the one meal (to put it into contrast, a typical serving of All bran would provide closer to 13-15g of fibre), and start getting yourself on your way to attaining the RDI of fibre which is 25-30g for an adult woman and male respectively.

Many people are told that oats a good for lowering cholesterol, this is a result of a certain type of soluble fibre called beta glucan being present. In other countries a recommendation of 3g of beta glucans a day is made in order for the positive cholesterol lowering, heart protective effects to take place. One serve, or 40g of traditional rolled oats will usually provide around 1.6g of beta glucan. As you can see, you would need to have almost 2 serves of oats in order to reach your daily target for beta glucans (but with that comes double the amount of kilojoules too).

Moving onto Glycaemic Index, or GI, although traditional oats do have a low GI, how many people in todays busy world, stand over the stove with their pot for the 4 minutes in the morning? Most people I have come across my time consume quick oats, from the sachets. Now although these oats have a similar nutritional profile on the back of the pack to traditional oats, due to the processing, these oats actually have a more moderate to high GI.

So where does this leave quick oats:

Pros:

They are low in kilojoules because they are portion controled

They are usually low in sodium

Cons:

They have a moderate to high GI

They are not an excellent source of Fibre

They only become a good source of protein when made up with milk instead of water.

You would need 2 serves / 80g to get close to the daily target of beta glucans to justify the cholesterol loweing affect.

Analysis:

Traditional rolled oats are a far better choice than the new varieties of quick sachets that are now on the market. No matter if they are "wholegrain" or "multigrain" or contain some sort of "superfood" added ingredient, these quick sachets should be seen more as a healthy snack choice or healthier dessert, as opposed to the wonderous breakfast option.

So what should you be having?

If you make up traditional oats, adding some form of fibre supplement such as psyllium husk, chia seed bran, or fibre boost sprinkles would be beneficial at bumping up the fibre content of the end meal.

Using skim milk and adding a no added sugar yoghurt on top of the oats will help increase the protein of the meal and aid with satiety.

Adding 1/2 a teaspoon of cinnamon will help regulate your blood sugar levels, leaving you with a more sustained energy release.

If you want to sweeten your oats, either add fresh fruit, fruit canned in natural juice, or some form of natural low GI sweetener such as stevia. Honey and table sugar will both increase the GI of the meal without adding additional fibre or protein.

For those that are set on their quick oats, there is one new addition to the porridge market called Barley and Oats 1st by Goodness Superfoods. These quick sachets actually have a low GI, a slightly higher fibre content, and provide almost the full 3g of beta glucans in one 40g serve as a result of the grain BARLEYmax that is found within the mix. If you want more information on this brand I would suggest you go over to their website for full details on the products (and I can go into more detail on this another time too).

I still would suggest adding the above mentioned additions to bump up the fibre and protein even more, but at least you can rest assure that you will be having a quick and easy low GI breakfast that is higher in fibre than your regular quick oats.

Does anyone have any other suggestions for additions to put into your oats to bump up the fibre or protein content?

Espresso over a latte for a caffiene hit, right?

Corporate Nutrition Melbourne Blog - Blog- Food For Energy

This is one of those random facts I found out and thought may make for an interesting irrelevant fact for some others.

When we think of coffee, often those rich aromas that come with the darker shades of coffee beans make us think we are getting a stronger "caffeine hit", yet contrary to this belief, the roasting process actually burns off some of the bean (and with it, the caffeine content).

So next time you are looking for that quick 'coffee or caffeine hit' (not that I am promoting this is a multiple occurance event on a daily basis)- think twice about the blend you select. You may have been going for the wrong type for all these years, given the desired effect you were looking for.

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