I've been investigating fast food a fair bit recently and as a nutritionist it scares me how bad some foods can be. Here are some ways you can make eating out healthier over the festive season:

- If you can get a wholegrain sandwich this would be a good option. Choose one that is filled with lots of salad. Try to get one with lean meat and go easy on the cheese and dressings.

- If you are having a picnic or meal outside, buy a pre cooked chicken, remove the skin and any fat you can see (the breast meat will have less fat). Have this with a bread roll and plenty of salad.

- Go Asian – ask for steamed rice, steamed vegetables and lean meat or seafood. A stir-fry is also a good option – just make sure it contains lots of vegetables and that the meat used is lean.

- If you opt for a pasta meal make sure that it is a pasta with tomato based sauce. Make sure the meal also contains salad or vegetables and that you use cheese in minimal amounts.

- Baked potatoes are another vegetable based meal that would be perfect so long as you don’t add too much cheese, and ask for light sour cream if you have sour cream.

- Mexican food can be a great, flavour filled option. Choose a burrito or enchilada filled with plenty of salad, chicken or lean meat or beans. Avoid sour cream, corn chips and cheesy sauces.

- Salad bars are becoming more popular. Choose a salad that is obviously high in vegetables, but that also contains a little carbohydrate and protein (such as lean chicken, nuts or falafel) so that you are sustained for a longer period of time.

- Another healthy option is to have a kebab. Get as much salad as you can along with falafel, tabbouli or lean meat. Watch out for cheesy, or higher fat sauces.

- Pizza can be an option so long as you are careful about what is on it. Vegetarian pizza will be healthier but also ask for less cheese to be put on it and ask for a plain crust – not stuffed crust.

- Gourmet burgers are available everywhere these days. Choose one that contains a grilled meat patty, and plenty of salads. Avoid ordering the fries on the side.

GOOD LUCK! and remember colour is a good thing - more colour more nutrients!

A step closer to a healthier environment?

This week the children of New Zealand got a step closer to a healthier with the withdrawl of regular soft drinks from all schools. Frucor Beverages and Coca Cola Amatil have withdrawn full sugar drinks and will only supply schools with diet drinks, flavoured waters or fruit juices. Is it enough though?

Well its a good start - regular soft drinks are loaded with sugar and bad not only for our waistlines, but also our dental health. If sugar is left on the teeth it harbours bacteria which creates plaque. So this decision may not just help in the fight against obesity but also in other ways.

Although its a great start to making a healthier environment we still need to do more - what is to stop a teenager walking to the diary near school to buy a soft drink? We all know that while browsing the supermarket it is obvious that soft drink is cheaper than milk (and often bottled water) so it can be a hard choice for those on a budget to make the healthier choice. We still have a long way to go to make the environment more conductive to making the better choice - but its a start!

A healthy Kiwi BBQ

Its that time of year where we get our jandals on and get together with family and friends for a great Kiwi BBQ and its time to update your BBQ from just a sausage in bread with a splash of tomato sauce!


Traditionally the BBQ is all about chargrilled meat and bread with sauce but considering that its not exactly blanced you can use these tips to make your next BBQ better:

• Take along a salad or two - that way you will have a way of adding your greens to your meal
• Pasta, rice, couscous or potato salads are a great way of adding more carohydrates to your BBQ meal - try and use lower fat dressings to keep the fat and energy down
• Make sure you dont overdo it on the meat - make a balanced meal with salad and vegetables
• A great way to add more vegetables to your meal is to add corn on the cob, or vegetable kebabs (thread mushrooms, capsicum, onion and any of your favourite veges on a skewer and cook on the BBQ)
• Try and avoid excessively buring the meat - HCA's on burnt meat and foods are not good for our health
• If there is dessert have a low fat alternative such as a fruit salad with yoghurt or a small scoop of ice cream

While you are at the BBQ also keep an eye on your alcohol intake, and try and add in an activity - think backyard cricket, rugby or pole tennis - great BBQ activities of the past!

Can thinking about food make us store energy in our muscles?

New research from Japan suggests that just thinking about food can make our muscles take up glucose for use as an energy source just by thinking about it. The study was conducted with mice but the researchers think that the results will be transferable to humans.

The researchers in Japan investigated a protein known as orexin-A, which is activated in the brain by physical activity, moods and thoughts. Orexin-A was injected into the brians of the mice used and this caused a message to be sent to the muscles (skeletal muscle) which then directed the muscle to fuel up with glucose.

We do know that even just thinking about exercise can cause the body to start preparing for an exercise session - e.g. an increase in heart rate may be seen, and during visualisation in athletes muscles have shown the same activity that is seen in 'real' movements, so it is definately possible that our thoughts impact our bodily function.

Although it is very early to tell if this will help in humans it does indicate that it could help in terms of carb (glucose) use in athletes preparing for events, and in weight management medications. Stay tuned....