The Nutrition Poole

Lock down lunch! I'm feeling especially anxious today, looking forward to this to lift the spirits.

Today's culinary delight

A favourite in our house: quick and easy chili and nachos meal. Great as an after work dinner and as a welcome change from rice!

COVID Symptom Tracker COVID Symptom tracker lets anyone healthy or with symptoms share valuable information with researchers and the NHS. Just take 1-minute to self-report daily, even if you are well, to help identify (a) How fast the virus is spreading in your area (b) High-risk areas (c) Who is most at risk, by better....

Despite having contributed to this amazing cookbook I have bought my very own copy to support with the amazing work they do to .

£3.99 will buy you your very own copy via e-book download. 25 delicious recipes of a variety of cuisines. https://transactions.sendowl.com/products/78043592/9817DCB4/view

So pleased to have been part of this charity cookbook. My contribution to the repitoire is a firm family favourite Pizza, on pages 6 and 7. You can help a person in need by downloading it for the bargain price of £3.99 all the proceeds will go to the Trussell Trust who operate food banks in the UK, helping those in food poverty.

You can pay and download it here;
https://sowl.co/LW3vl

Need help with a miriad of medical conditions such as type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure or high cholesterol? Dietary or lifestyle interventions may be the answer.

Dietitians at The Nutrition Poole are now running regular clinics at Swan House, Market Bosworth so if you would like further information on how dietary or lifestyle interventions may be able to help you, or to book a consultation call 07986 960370 or email: [email protected]

Need help with a miriad of medical conditions such as type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure or high cholesterol? Dietary or lifestyle interventions may be the answer.

Dietitians at The Nutrition Poole are now running regular clinics at Swan House so if you would like further information on how dietary or lifestyle interventions may be able to help you, or to book a consultation call 07986 960370 or email: [email protected]

So the Lidl UK veggie box is now empty and served me well, this is what I used and what I made.

🥬 Romaine Lettuce - chicken fajitas (not pictured)
🍅 3 Tomatoes - Prawn and Coconut curry (not pictured)
🥔 3 potatoes - leek and potato soup (pictured)
🍍 pineapple - sweet and sour chicken (pictured), snacks and pina colada porridge (not pictured)
🥣 handful of Brussel Sprouts and portebello mushrooms - minestrone soup (pictured), stuffed mushrooms (not pictured)
🍆1 aubergine - ratatouille (pictured)
🍊 5 blood oranges - snacks (not pictured)
🍌 3 bananas - Banana cake (pictured)

not bad for £1.50.

Last but not least the final thing made from the £1.50 veggie box a fruity banana cake. Just right for finishing off the week.

! Recently cooked up this delicious minestrone soup. It's packed full of veggies and is absolutely perfect as a filling lunch on a cold day with some hearty, crusty bread!

Mmmm! Leek and potato soup, the next culinary delight to be made from the Lidl UK £1.50 veg box (with the addition of rather sad looking leeks from the fridge) with the help of my Morphy Richards soup maker.

First item out of my £1.50 Lidl UK veg box a lovely, very juicy pineapple. Made a delicious lunchtime snack for my daughter and I and enough left for my sweet and sour chicken dinner on Saturday night.

What a bargain, picked up this veg box for just £1.50 in Lidl UK today. Am now thinking of all the yummy things I can make; ratatouille, stuffed mushrooms, leek and potato soup as well as just enjoying the fruit.

Delicious dropped scones, a family favourite. Yum!

Should Obesity be classified as a disease?

Obesity is more complex than just laziness or gluttony, as some may think. It is formed through social, psychological and genetic affects.

Anyone struggling with their weight knows full well this battle.

Today brings the National Obesity Awareness Week to a close. On Monday, I attended the All-Party Parliamentary Group meeting on Obesity at Westminster looking at whether obesity should be reclassified as a disease.
We heard from Matt Hancock - the secretary for Health, who said he did not support the reclassification as felt it would decrease individuals' sense of advocacy and individual responsibility. I have worked with people living with obesity for the past 15 years and can tell you that obesity is not a choice. It's not that people have not tried and tried to manage their weight.
Obesity has complex origins with the newest research showing the significant role our genes play. That's not to say our genetics completely determine whether we develop obesity but they will leave someone predisposed, meaning their efforts with diet and lifestyle changes may not have the same impact as yours.

Obesity is also deeply ground in psychology with people learning to use food as an emotional comfort or filler to intolerance life experiences in early life. Unfortunately, as they grow up, those intolerable experiences become a daily occurrence with the shame, judgement, abuse and stigma they face in society because of their weight, further fuelling the use of food for emotional regulation.

If you do not have obesity, you are likely to have gained weight at some point in your life. You probably changed your diet and exercise and your weight reduced. This may leave you judging others who continue struggling with their weight. We forget at that time, that our genetics, environment and psychology massively determine our success with losing weight and someone's continued struggle with obesity does NOT indicate a lack of effort, will power or care. Obesity should be classified as a disease - its presence reduces both length and quality of life. It is resistant to treatments (although obesity surgery offers a lifeline for many) and the reclassification will be a defining step to the reduction in stigma of the condition. The fact that a quarter of our population suffer with obesity is also not a reason to not call it a disease - in fact, it demonstrates the epidemic in which we face.

Have a spooky halloween and when you get home tuck in to this hearty Butternut and Borlotti Stew from Diabetes UK https://www.diabetes.org.uk/guide-to-diabetes/recipes/butternut-and-borlotti-bean-stew

Butternut and borlotti bean stew Guide to the symbols A colourful winter dish you can cook in one pan. Serves 6 Prep 15 minutes Cook 30-35 minutes Each 454g serving contains (excludes serving suggestion) KCal 217 Carbs 33.5g Fibre 11.4g Protein 11.7g Fat 1.6g Saturates 0.20g Sugars 14.6g Salt 0.50g Portion Fruit & Veg 5 Nutritional...

So how do you prepare your squash or pumpkin, well British Heart Foundation has the answers. https://www.bhf.org.uk/informationsupport/heart-matters-magazine/nutrition/cooking-skills/5-tips-for-preparing-pumpkins-and-squash

5 simple tips for preparing pumpkins and squash Cooking pumpkin and squashes can seem daunting. Here's five simple tips to help you prepare and cook them, plus a guide to the different types.

The countdown to Halloween has begun and all the shops are rammed full of Pumpkins but they're more than just for decoration or to make a jack-o-lantern.

They are high in nutrients such as fibre, vitamins A, C and potassium but low in calories which is great to help manage your weight and live a healthy life.

As its Friday lets finish the week with the office classic snack samosas, courtesy of British Heart Foundation.
https://www.bhf.org.uk/informationsupport/support/healthy-living/healthy-eating/recipe-finder/baked-vegetable-samosas

Baked vegetable samosas A great snack for picnics and packed lunches. Sprinkle samosas with yellow mustard seeds just before baking for a delicious twist.

Fancy a naan with that.... British Heart Foundation
https://www.bhf.org.uk/informationsupport/support/healthy-living/healthy-eating/recipe-finder/plain-naan

Plain naan Naan are wonderfully comforting flatbreads that are surprisingly simple to make. Serve them with barbecued foods with some salad, or with any curries.

What you having with that curry on . Super savory rice anyone from Change4Life https://www.nhs.uk/change4life/recipes/super-savoury-rice

Super savoury rice - Change4Life A simple, tasty rice dish.

Not into meat free dishes, no problem, what about this British classic for courtesy of Diabetes UK.
https://www.diabetes.org.uk/guide-to-diabetes/recipes/chicken-tikka-masala

Chicken tikka masala Guide to the symbols A healthier, lower-fat version of Britain's favourite curry, with all the taste. Serves 4 Prep 15 minutes Cook 20 minutes Each 195g serving contains (excludes serving suggestion) KCal 152 Carbs 6.5g Protein 23.0g Fat 3.5g Saturates 0.30g Sugars 6.0g Salt 0.40g Portion Fruit & Ve...

To celebrate here's a delicious sweet potato curry courtesy of British Heart Foundation.

Sweet potato curry with spinach and chick peas Warming spices and fresh, healthy ingredients combine to create this tempting, wholesome supper. Serve with basmati rice for a healthy and delicious meal.

Chatting with Chris Mawbey about nutrition.

New Podcast up and today I have speaking to Vikki Poole who is a dietitian about food, stigma and a question at the end for you to answer. Let us know what you think by answering below.

More good words on yesterday's headlines.

ULTRA PROCESSED FOODS LINKED TO CANCER
🗞 There were some dramatic headlines in the news this morning - this time linking “ultra-processed foods” to cancer risk....
SO WHAT IS ULTRA PROCESSED FOOD?
🔪The term ‘ultra processed’ comes from a food classification system used in scientific research called the NOVA classification....
🔍 This system ranks foods into 4 categories: 1) minimally or unprocessed, 2) processed ingredients, 3) processed foods and 4) ultra-processed foods....
WHAT ARE THE PROBLEMS WITH CATEGORISING FOOD IN THIS WAY?
🍔 The NOVA system has been designed to attempt to separate out the health effects of what some people would call ‘whole foods’ vs commercially manufactured foods....
🤔 Although classification of foods in this way is interesting from a research perspective it is not currently useful for informing public health advice....
🍬 The main problem is that although it sounds like a good way of classifying foods, the category ‘ultra processed, is actually quite vague and poorly defined. In fact, some foods/meals that you might consider “healthy” because of their nutrition composition could very easily be classified as “ultra processed”, such as shop bought hummus and some yoghurts.
….
💫 Foods which fall into this group can also vary widely in their nutritional composition. E.g. it currently lumps together both gummy sweets, ready meals and margarine, all of which have vastly different nutritional values....
🍝 We know that people of lower socio-economic groups are more likely to eat convenience foods, due to cost and access, so demonising these foods and lumping them all together isn’t helpful and could demonise important sources of nourishment for these people....
WHY ARE SCIENTISTS STUDYING ULTRA PROCESSED FOODS?
👉 The amount of convenience food we are eating as a population is increasing....
☝️ Some people have suggested that some aspects of these foods could have health risks....
👀 In particular, they have suggested that the cooking processes and packaging could mean they contain more potentially cancer causing compounds than home cooked foods (e.g. acrylamide)....
⚡️They may also mean we consume more of some food additives which have been linked to cancer in animal models (e.g. sodium nitrate and titanium oxide)....
🙅‍♀️ However, these are still speculative, it’s unknown if there is a link between these things and cancer risk in people. ...
OK, I GET IT, BUT WHAT DID THIS STUDY FIND?
🤓 This study was an observational study that found a WEAK link between the amount of ultra-processed foods people consumed and their risk of cancer....
🧐 More specifically they saw that when the proportion of ultra processed food in the diet went up by 10%, peoples cancer risk increased by 12%....
☝️ It’s worth noting that this number of 12% looks high and scary but doesn’t mean that people’s risk went up TO 12%....
👉 Their total risk would still depend on what their baseline risk was, which is affected by many things including age and genetics as well as lifestyle....
👁 This study is also observational and due to the complex nature of the relationship between diet, lifestyle and cancer, the researchers themselves stated that impact of other confounding factors know to be linked to cancer can’t be fully excluded (e.g. smoking and physical activity)....
WHAT DOES THIS ADD TO CONVERSATION ABOUT ULTRA PROCESSED FOOD AND CANCER?
👩‍🔬 This is a new area of research. We currently know very little about ultra processed foods and cancer risk....
👩‍🏫 This is an exploratory study which can be used to shape further research as we establish more clearly what could be a problem and what needs to be studied further....
WHAT DO THESE FINDINGS MEAN FOR ME?
1️⃣This study DOES NOT mean that eating some foods categorised as ‘ultra processed’ will give you cancer....
2️⃣ These findings don’t change public healthy eating or lifestyle advice....
3️⃣ Just because a food is classified as ‘processed’ or ‘ultra-processed’ doesn’t automatically make it unhealthy. ...
4️⃣The best way to reduce your risk of cancer is still to eat a varied diet, keep active, avoid smoking and keep alcohol consumption low. ...
5️⃣ Don’t panic if you consume some foods in your diet which would classify as ultra processed - what’s important is that you do your best to get the basics right as above.