Anthony Power Nutrition

It felt good to see the good guys win.

Sure I’m from Brisbane, and I love sport, but I felt something more whilst watching a pub-full of half-cut Lions fans going off yesterday.

It felt hopeful. It felt positive. It felt like dreams sometimes come true. It felt like the good-guys won. It wasn’t controversial.

It felt good to see young people with hope in their eyes and voice.

It’s been awhile since I’ve experienced a feeling like that. It’s the positive of sport but it transcended ‘sport’ yesterday for mine.

Lately the ‘good guys’ haven’t been winning.

I thought of Zelensky and Ukraine, Harris, the Palestinian and Lebanese people, a solution for cleaner air and many other positives whilst walking home.

I thought maybe that they might win against the dark-clouds that lately seem so acidic and negative.

Here’s hoping….

(This post may be triggering to Swan, Wallaby and Bronco fans 😆😛)

I thought this graph was interesting and quite damning re surgeons/doctors 😆

I wish we would think more about our kids/younger generation and not about looking after those who have half a dozen rental units 🤷‍♂️

I wish there was bipartisan agreement re this.

Statements like this do my head in 😵‍💫

“Health and Wellbeing Queensland developed Pick of the Crop, a program for schools to encourage students to learn about and eat more fruit and vegetables”.

It is utter unscientific and patronising nonsense.

To ‘get better’, lose weight, put diabetes and heart disease into remission…??

It’s all about knowing what to avoid.

Eating fruit and vegetables, moving more, avoiding meat etc won’t prevent diabetes.

If you understand this, you are on your way.

Avoiding outdated clinics and ‘experts’ like these is the first thing to do.

Stress, overwork, alcohol, childhood trauma and the acidic ‘keeping up with the Jones’ are the main reasons why we overeat.

Take the (long) time to get your emotions under control.

Do this well-before you even contemplate changing the way you eat.

If you understand this?

You are 70% on the way to ‘getting better’.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-09-01/childhood-obesity-health-diabetes-logan-brisbane-election/104262774?utm_source=abc_news_app&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_campaign=abc_news_app&utm_content=link

Staying positive is tough when you read such misguided news.

The reason why many of our elderly (and the general population) are malnourished is due to the outdated advice from the majority of dietitians, doctors and public health figures.

Sadly these outdated ideas get further ventilated when celebrity chefs get involved.

When I read about food recommendations from dietitians like ice-cream, custard, pastries etc my blood boils.

These foods will worsen gut irritation/reflux/diarrhoea, fatty liver, sarcopenia, diabetes, dementia, heart disease and cancer.

Where is the mention of mince on toast, stewing meats/casserole, adding almond meal to yoghurt, canned fish (made into fish cakes), baked beans and shredded cheese??

What about plain whey powder (not Sustagen/Ensure!) added to yoghurt, eggs, pancake mix to increase protein levels by 100%??

Ice cream, custard, pastries are junk food low in protein and nutrients.

How can so called health experts recommend such poor food choices?

Absolutely have as a treat-but calling them energy food is like saying ci******es will improve your airways.

I have an ailing 85yo mum and nutritional choices are a challenge but when done well it works.

When are we going to shun this outdated and frankly irresponsible and dangerous advice from those who we call ‘experts’.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/health/2024-07-11/malnutrition-signs-risks-for-older-people-dietary-guidelines/104076440?utm_medium=social&utm_content=sf273891332&utm_campaign=abc_news&utm_source=m.facebook.com&sf273891332=1&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR1xomi0jSO6t8c2f66K9SASOfqFAImAZMxQ09eiGqiZ96vA8uT_-ZeuS_A_aem_dFOAc6S9e67rE2giJVDwKQ

Once you know the truth about what we should be eating, it is so freeing and liberating.

Once you can see through the myths and charlatans (insert vegan influencers here 😆) it starts making sense.

Simplify your eating and your health improves.

Stick with meats, eggs, chicken/turkey and seafood with plenty of salt, pepper, herbs and spices.

I just whipped up some liver for the week ahead.

It is so easy and cooks in minutes.

I like the taste of beef liver. If you are just starting or like a milder flavour, ask your butcher for lamb liver.

Heat a good glug of olive oil and k**b of butter in a fry pan.

Slice up the liver. Toss in the pan for about 8-10 minutes.

I add salt, pepper, chopped parsley and cumin to mine.

Otherwise you can add some fried bacon, onions and a dash of cream.

Just experiment.

I have mine with a side of broccoli or cabbage or you can add a bit to mince if you are just starting out.

Cooking liver is surrounded by all these myths (a bit like cooking roast turkey).

I find it one of the easiest things to cook (a bit like roast turkey 🤷‍♂️).

Liver (other offal and red meat) plus eggs etc are the true superfoods.

Once you know this, you are on your way to better and smarter health.

Enjoy (a longer, healthier and easier life ) 😉

Utter BS.

It’s classic health-washing.

Marketing triumphing over science.

This packet of junk food?

Ancient grains…give me a break.

It equivalent to 18 teaspoons of sugar.

Yep, 18.

So?

If you want to get/remain fat, constipated, heart-diseased, cancerous, tired, irritable, diabetic, sore and prematurely aged?

Go right ahead and eat it.

What’s another way out?

Adequate and substantial amounts of protein at all three meals.

Don’t snack…ever.

But first?

Understand you are addicted to the dopamine/serotonin hit from junk food and….

You are stressed, unhappy, depressed, repressed, angry or disappointed.

Start dealing with and accept (!) the emotional aspects of food addiction well before you change your diet and well before you seek out a nutritionist, chemist, guru, doctor or bariatric surgeon.

Do you really want to know?

Really?

What really frustrates me when I see a new patient??

A bloated, overweight, clogged, sore patient would stagger through my door…

They’d be taking at least 8 medicines…most of them making them feel sick (prescribed by a doctor who’s had one week nutrition training in 20 years of practice).

They’d have a cupboard full of supplements sold to them by their chemist who is laughing all the way to the bank.

They’re also taking the latest weight-loss drug that has side-effects that requires a booklet and they’re contemplating bariatric surgery that will gravely impact on their health for their entire lifetime.

And then I come along….

I’m the bloody nutrition expert.

With a bachelors degree.

With 20 years of seeing patients.

And I suggest that maybe the advice from the doc, the chemist, the spiv PT/trainer/chiropractor/hairdresser and best mate might be off the mark.

Mmmmm….

Really?

So the way I’ve been eating and what I’ve been doing for 50 years might need to change hey?

Maybe all that high-carbohydrate/low fat, high-fibre, low-salt/low cholesterol diet, ‘just move more’ message, drug and supplement advice might be off the mark?

Maybe that might be causing my obesity, chronic reflux, IBS, fatty liver, severe joint pain, heart disease, high cholesterol, kidney disease, early onset dementia, sleep apnoea??

Mmm…

Nah.

I don’t think so.

I’ll just continue doing what I’m doing for a big longer..

FFS!

Sorry, but I don’t want to work with you either 🤷‍♂️😕

Sorry (not sorry) 😆

Sorry (not sorry)….

If you are going to continue to eat cereal, bread, rice, pasta and fruit to obtain a pinch of daily fibre?

You’re going to remain fat, tired, clogged, inflamed, diabetic and unwell.

You have to realise that along with that pinch of fibre comes teaspoons and teaspoons of sugar that lights up your arteries, liver, brain, bowels and body like a river of lava.

And yes….

Whole grains become sugar in the body even faster than white flour because they are ground so fine.

We only need a small amount of fibre in the diet.

The best way to obtain this is via small amounts of green veggies/seaweed and/or berries, sprinkle some coconut flour on your whey and yoghurt, a handful of nuts daily, or use herbs daily in your cooking like parsley, thyme and oregano.

Change is challenging.

But it’s surely better than being sick, tired and fat.

To get better?

To change?

You’ve generally got to give up something in life.

Those of us who have/had a mortgage can remember this very well.

It was about skipping the takeaway, some drinks, ci******es, coffee, dessert etc to put a few more dollars into the mortgage.

You couldn’t, and still can’t have it both ways.

Again, change is challenging and change means giving something up.

The majority of the world’s population is wedding to the idea of daily cereal, bread, rice, starchy veggies, snacks, fruit and alcohol.

You know different.

So?

Give up those things that you know are making you sick and fat.

And you’ll have to this for a few years, not weeks.

You know this but sometimes that makes change even more challenging.

There’s shortcuts for sure.

But these may make you even more sick in the long run.

Find a like-minded crew and support each other.

Yes you will stumble and fall.

What will you say to yourself when you do?

Who can support you?

And have three reasons ready why you WANT to change 🤷‍♂️

You’ve got to have a few tangible reasons.

Me?

I want to see more countries and travel unaided and eat local food with interesting people.

And I want to walk tall-I don’t want to shuffle.

Now your turn…

We think we are so smart 🥺

Most patients who have ‘gluten intolerance’?

Actually have ‘carbohydrate intolerance’.

Eating junk food (even gluten-free junk food)…

Is going to turn your intestines and liver into mincemeat.

The result?

Reflux, irritable bowel syndrome, fatty liver and elevated cholesterol.

Until you can give up what is making you sick, you will remain sick.

(And yes, I bet Coeliac Australia are getting a huge kickback from you staying sick 🤷‍♂️)

Nope.

ACV is overhyped, over-marketed and overpriced.

So what other panaceas won’t ’make you better, reverse weight loss, ageing or weight loss’.

Olive oil, lemon juice, flaxseeds, chia, dates, fruit and vegetables, butter, bacon, too much fat, MCT oil, berries, dark chocolate, red wine, bran, medicinal pot, probiotics/yoghurt etc are all ‘a little bit ok’.

They are ‘1 per centers’ that ‘a little bit healthy’.

They are all way over-marketed and over-hyped.

What you need to elevate in your own mind ‘to start getting better’ are mostly intangibles.

It’s a trap to do more, buy more, and find shortcuts.

It’s like bariatric surgery or weight loss drugs.

These are the two most important things to avoid!

So what are the intangibles?

Don’t eat between lunch and dinner until you see whatever results you are after.

Stop drinking alcohol until you see the results you are after.

Eat three protein-rich/low carbohydrate meals daily.

Don’t eat breakfast until 10am.

Don’t eat anything after dinner.

Stop running for weight loss (yes do it for mental health but slowly or just walk) and start building muscle by learning how to squat, deadlift, bench and chin.

Stop worrying about cholesterol-our body makes 6 eggs worth of cholesterol everyday.

Stop worrying about salt-we have 40 teaspoons worth in our body.

Understand sugar and carbohydrates are the same thing.

Stop killing yourself trying to eat mountains of carbohydrates to get a pinch of fibre.

Laugh, hug, chat, have s*x, walk a dog more.

Stop buying supplements until you do the above.

Stop taking advice from people younger than you who have never had a job for more than 5 years, have never had kids, never had a mortgage or have never felt that white-hot heat of grief/loss/regret or failure.

Just start….slowly…be consistent….and take a 2, 5 and 10 year view.

Surround yourself with positive people.

Tell any negative, toxic or unhappy person to take a hike out of your life.

‘Ah, I hear you’re a nutritionist?’

(I was at a dinner party with an old friend)

‘What should I do to get healthy’.

I asked what she was doing now.

‘I’ve just gone vegan.’

I said: ‘Health is actually more about that to avoid… plus a bit of fine print.’

So what should I avoid?

Oh the usuals like cereal, bread, pasta, excess fruit/legumes rice, snacks, starchy veggies.

Oh God, that’s what I live on.

…and the fine print?

Me: Animal products are actually the most nutrient-dense and absorbable foods you can eat.

Mmmm…thanks anyway….

It a tough one, but only ask questions if you are prepared to hear a reply you may not have expected.

Yes, it’s true.

Fruit and vegetables ARE over-rated (especially fruit)

‘But my doctor, dietician and PT told me to eat more of them’?

Yep, it’s a tough one and you feel like a deer in headlights right, not knowing what to do?

My advice is to listen to both ‘teams’ but be smart about it.

The reason we ‘are told’ to eat F&V is mainly due to their fibre content, and micronutrient content.

The most important of these is vitamin C and K etc and wonderful nutrients called quercetin (red onions, tea, blueberries) sulphoraphanes (in cruciferous veggies) etc.

So be smart about it.

Contrary to popular belief-we only need a small amt of fibre in our diet.

So why eat a bowl of Weetbix to get 3g (a pinch) of fibre when you are getting whacked with 60g of carbohydrates for the privilege.

And yes, oats are only a smidgen better-so don’t get too smug.

Why not combine the little fibre we need and wrap it up with some brilliant micronutrients!

Now that’s smart?

And your nutritionist and doctor is happy 😆

Do this by eating small amounts of chilli, blueberries, red onions, cauliflower, cabbage, broccoli and spinach plus herbs/spices like parsley, oregano, thyme, cumin etc and some seaweed (nibble on toasted sheets of nori from the supermarket).

What to stop from getting sick, fat and diabetic (or to reverse years of these issues)?

Stop ingesting mountains of carbohydrates (sugar, stupid) to get a pinch of fibre!

The biggest culprits?

Bread, cereal, flour, pasta, rice (yes, incl brown!), legumes, fruit, potato, sweet potato (higher sugar than the white one!), carrots, bananas and packet snacks.

Do what a time-poor person like me does and keep things simple.

I grow wonderful chilli’s (they are v hard to kill 😆), parsley, chives, baby spinach and rocket etc

I load up my food with herbs and spices and I stick with small amounts of either broccoli, cabbage, red onion, shallots, spinach and berries etc

I also love a small amt of legumes (oh the horror! 🤷)

I’m not a saint nor a sinner-I’m both 😁

Be smart about the way you eat-don’t be a puritan nor a glutton.

The fine print?

Stress and alcohol for 99% of us makes the above impossible 🤯🤦‍♀️

I’m loving this cookbook
Amazing history, people and flavours.
I think I’d travel to the Baltic States just for the food 😆

Not bad for a (soon to be) 56yo ketogenic old bloke 👨🏻‍🦳⛰️

I won’t lie, it was tough 🥵

What it’s done though is reinforced that prioritising building muscle/getting strong and prioritising protein and minimising carbohydrates really does help you do what you want to do.

And the by-product is no joint pain, no gut issues, no gut (😆), no diabetes, higher testosterone, no sleep apnea, no medication, better skin, more energy, no migraines etc

It didn’t help with the grey hair but you can’t win them all 😋

I don’t know about you but I want to be doing stuff in a few decades-not queuing at the pharmacy/doctors/hospital!?

We all have to get older, but we can do it on our terms and maintain our independence as long as we can.

As we age, learn to eat quality protein for 80% of our meals, eat less in general, stay/get strong, don’t snack (ever) and minimise alcohol (to master these two biggies you gotta tame/slay the stress/regret/anger/frustration/envy/unhappiness/unfulfilled beast and significantly reduce breads, cereals, fruit, pasta, rice, flour.

Just start!

Fingers-crossed we’ll have a longer AND healthier present and future 🙂

A good reminder to self.

Taking a solo holiday to NZ has made me realise how beautiful the world is.

It’s also reminded me that work will be forgotten but not people and sights I see/meet.

…and the insignificance of work and family ‘stuff’ 🤦‍♂️

The older travellers I see all say the same thing: ‘Don’t leave it too late’.

How to pick a true medical junk food.

How this junk is still used to give our most vulnerable is almost criminal.

Look at the carbohydrate content of Sustagen (61%) per 100gr. Whilst protein is 23% per 100 grams.

Whey protein in the other hand has 4 times lower carbohydrate and three times the protein.

Sustagen is owned by the king of medical junk food Nestle.

Both Sustagen and Ensure are medical junk foods to avoid in hospitals.

One of the biggest mistakes I made whilst working as a nutritionist?

Not prioritising the mind over the body.

Before you make ANY dietary or exercise changes…you must (at least in part) appreciate and acknowledge those thoughts of boredom, unhappiness, anxiety, depression, regret, shame, anger, frustration, and disappointment that cause you to ‘always eat, and (always eat) the wrong things’.

Food boosts dopamine and serotonin.

Some might reach for a cigarette, some a wine, some a chocolate bar, some methyl amphetamine.

It’s all trying to boost or mood.

So mood (together with wildly fluctuating blood sugars) force you to gobble carbohydrates because they are a cheap, legal, accessible ‘high’.

Acknowledge this and start the search for a ‘healthy high’ alternative.

Until you do this (as well as understanding the wild blood sugar roller coaster you have been on for years/decades)?

No weight loss drug, no bariatric surgery, no C-PAP machine, no supplement, no health food, no vegan diet will work.

Just start by writing down those emotions that trigger your need to eat.

Do this well before you consider a dietary change or before you start pounding the pavement. ☺️

Ridiculous story.

B6 is water soluble.

For any adverse reaction (yes it does happen, and I’ve seen it), you would have to take hundreds of milligrams daily.

Most good quality multivitamins contain about 30mg of B6.

You would need to take 10 times this for a long period to feel any symptoms (which remit completely upon ceasing the B6).

Meanwhile, more than 10 000 people in Australia are hospitalised annually for paracetamol poisoning (where liver damage can be irreversible).

Let’s keep silly stories like this in perspective.

Then again, it might make front page news in the Courier Mail or lead story on A Current Affair so what do I know 😉

A diet book written by a vegan 🤷

It’s like the inventor of the black&white TV trying to convince you not to buy a colour one 🤔

Meat (plus eggs and fish) are one of healthiest foods to eat.

Just skip the bun/bread, mash/fries, beer, soft drink, ice-cream and chocolate you eat with/after your meat.

It’s where researchers went wrong (and still go wrong today).

They conflate eating meat with all the junk people were eating and they failed to tease out that decades ago, many meat eaters also smoked, drank beer and ate dessert.

And they blamed meat, eggs etc.

You need to doctor yourself on this one.

Yes!

Diet can improve mental illness.

Patients say keto helps with their mental illness. Science is racing to understand why It's not just for weight loss. Patients and doctors alike are having success using the diet for illnesses like bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. And research is taking off.

Hot?!

So please don’t….

It’s been very hot and humid in Brisbane-still sitting at 30 degrees Celsius at 5pm.

I’ve been walking along the river after work just to wind down.

I’ve been watching so many older joggers with very red, distressed faces hammering themselves along the pavement.

Jogging is great for the mind so don’t get me wrong.

Please remember that 80%, yes 80% of weight-loss and blood sugar control comes from decisions about food NOT from exercise.

It’s a good way to sort a contemporary personal trainer or dietitian from the old school.

So take the pressure off and go for a slow walk and smell the roses.

What the old-school health professionals won’t tell you that that bowl of cereal/rice/pasta, bread, potato, biscuits or banana needed another 10km medium intensity jog to run off! (on top of the 5km run to run off that mini chocolate bar you had after lunch).

The change your way of eating, first deal with your stress eating.

Start on this well before you consider another diet.

It’s a message that’s tough to hear, but one we need to hear, digest and then be consistent with.

Surround yourself with health professionals that will give you modern advice with empathy.

Great movie.

Remember when we just drank water?

Good piece of advice 🤯

Always read the fine print and don’t be fooled. Sadly it’s fodder for us time-poor human sheep 😓Thanks Nina

New Netflix film on the Stanford twin study: Science or PR Stunt?
Entire Stanford center conducting the study is underwritten by Beyond Meat.

Study itself is funded by one of the so-called "vegan mafia," whose foundation is devoted to animal-rights causes and also funded the Game Changers movie, promoting vegan athletes.

The science is questionable: very short-term study with cherry-picked outcome data that deviates from original protocol.

https://unsettledscience.substack.com/p/stanfords-vegan-twin-study-science