In America and England, added sugar only went from a luxury item, to an everyday item, in the 1700’s.Then, the average persons intake was about 5 g/day. In 21^st century the average consumption of added sugar in New Zealand is around 140g/day – around 32 teaspoons or over ½ a cup.

Note: Added sugar does not account for the sugar in whole fruits, lactose in dairy products etc.

The world health organisation recommends sugar to be no more than 10% of your diet and sugar is commonly found at the top of a food pyramid, often with a note saying ‘only have in small amounts’.  Why health recommendations should include added sugar in any way at all is beyond me.  Not only does sugar contain no nutrients, it also displaces many food choices that do.

Some effects of sugar include:

- It suppresses the immune system.

- It upsets the absorption on nutrients.

- It can decrease fertility.

- It increases cholesterol.

- It feeds cancer cells

I could go on, and on.  While a lot of people are not concerned with health until they are sick, I would say most people have some concern with weight, so I will let you in on a little secret – fat does not make you fat, sugar makes you fat!

Added sugar has absolutely no place in our diets when we are eating for health. Now I don’t live under a rock, I know sugar is part of our society.  It is a part of our social interactions, it is also very addictive, and it is hard to give up.  Gosh I know this, sugar has been a part of my own eating for such a long time, I know more than I need to know about what sugar does to me, but I still battle giving it up!

My challenge to you is to decrease your sugar intake, what ever your sugar intake is.  Over the next few days start looking at your food labels, concentrating only on sugar.  Added sugar can hide in many forms from sucrose, fructose, High Fructose Corn Syrup, cane sugar, dextrose, corn syrup etc, this can get confusing.  I recommend looking at the grams of sugar.  Calculate according to your serving size and don’t forget to look at all foods – breads, yoghurts, juice, etc can be some of the most surprising culprits of hiding sugar.

Note:  some may say that the sugar in juice is not added sugar, but even if it is made straight from fruits, it is heated up so much that minimal nutrients are left.  Unless you’re juicing you own, add that sugar to your list.

Once you have added your intake of sugar (remember about 5g is equivalent to about 1 teaspoon), start to look at how you can decrease your intake of sugar.  It may be having Greek yoghurt instead of fruit yoghurt or having a natural cereal over cornflakes.  What ever it is for you, just start taking an interest in what you are putting into your mouth!

Last note: Please do not replace sugar for artificial sweeteners, next time ill tell you why they should not even be in our food supply.

Happy sugar cutting.

Wal Herring

Stock, weather, chicken / poultry, beef or fish are full of amazing qualities which

-       Improves digestion

-       Increases immune system

-       Improves hydration

-       High in minerals

-       High in essential amino acids

The quality of the bones is the key, although organic, free range or wild is the best, most of the time this is not practical.  One feature that I look for when using bones, is that the animal/fish was feed its natural diet, for example, grass fed – I personally stay away from those corn fed animals!

Difference between store brought and homemade

When it comes down to it, it is about being natural.   You know for sure that homemade stock has no MSG and chemicals in it, also store brought stock lacks gelatine, which is high in the amino acid glycine.  Glycine is a big factor in the benefits listed above.

What bones to use

My favourite is chicken, basically because it takes less time to cook and I use the carcass and bones left over from a roast.  See below for chicken stock recipe.  If you don’t have a roast, ask a butcher or a local farmer for their left over bones. When using beef bones, get the butcher to cut the bones into smaller sections, and you will need to boil the bones for about 6-12 hours longer than chicken bones.

Chicken Stock Recipe

What you will need

-       Carcass from roast

-       Left over vegetables

-       Apple cider vinegar

-       Water

Directions

-       Submerge the carcass in water, in a pot that is big enough to hold everything.  Add any left over vegetables – if you have none, this does not matter.

-       Add a splash of apple cider vinegar (about 2 Tablespoons).  Cover and bring to the boil. The vinegar helps to get the minerals out of the bones.

Note: You may find a bit of scum rise to the top, periodically skim this off during cooking.  I normally find this doesn’t happen with chicken bones but with Beef bones it is very noticeable.

-       Simmer, with lid on for at least 4 hours, some say you need to do 24 hours but I personally find that is too much of a hassle.  The longer you boil it the more nutrients you get out of the bones. If I can do boil them for 6 hours, I am happy.

Note:  I often bring the contents to boil the night we have a roast, then ill turn it off before going to bed and continue to boil and simmer the next day for a few hours.

If you don’t have time to boil your roast bones for a few days, put the carcass/bones in the fridge or freezer to store for later use.

-       If at any stage during cooking the water gets low just top up with boiling water.

-       Once you have boiled the bones for at least 4 hours, turn off and let cool slightly.  Strain the contents through a sieve and store the stock (liquid) in the fridge.

-       After it has cooled in the fridge you will find that the fat will float on the top of the stock, scrape this off before you make soup.

Note:  I personally ‘know’ I have made a good stock when the stock is very gelatinous. It may look gross but it’s very nutritious!

Using your stock

You can use this stock in anything, adding flavour to stews, cooking rice/quinoa and boiling vegetables (I love doing that for babies starting solids).  If you want to make an immune boosting soup, other vegetables that are great for winter wellness, include:

-       Shiitake mushrooms

-       Leeks

-       Kale

-       Sweet potato’s (skins on)

-       Parsnips

-       Turmeric

-       Ginger

-       Garlic – crush and add to soup before serving, this preserves the medicinal properties of the garlic

-       Fresh herbs such as rosemary, parsley, thyme etc – add to the soup about 30 minutes before the end of cooking

-       Chillies – heat can help break down congestion, so if you like it spicy give it a go!

Just experiment, use up any left over vegetables or chicken meat etc – find what flavours works for you and your family!  If you cannot stomach any flavours because you are sick, just have the stock like a tea.

Happy stock making!

Wal Herring

Most are lead to believe that you get sick for reasons you cannot control, a germ.  This, if you are unlucky to ‘catch it’ will make you sick.  There is a huge hole in this theory, why doesn’t everyone get sick when a germ is about? How can some people eat the same undercooked chicken and get horribly sick, while other get off scott free?  It all comes down to susceptibility.

While many factors contribute to being susceptible, such as stress, lack of sleep etc etc today’s blog is on Nutrition.  I know that I am super biased when I say Nutrition is the biggest factor in maintaining health, but I am a nutritionist and I witness this time and time again.

While maintaining health through nutrition has many factors relating to how individuals react to foods, below are some universal foods, which either decrease or increase your immunity and therefore your susceptibility to suffering an acute sickness.

Main foods that decrease immunity

-       Sugar – processed

In my mind sugar is the worst! I will write a future article on how bad sugars are (and sugar substitutes) but in a nutshell with respect to immunity, it, not only depletes minerals and vitamins, it also creates destructive bacteria that hang out in the gut (intestines) as well as increasing inflammation in your body. Sugar is in so many foods, start checking the back of your food labels and have a look at how much sugar you are eating in a day!

-       Trans fats and processed foods

These foods don’t add to your health, but in relation to immunity they decrease the probiotics that you have naturally in your gut.

Foods that can help increase your immunity

-       Probiotics

Probiotics are little guys that are primarily involved in the immune system.  They live in your gut wall helping to disarm any potential invaders that we have inadvertently taken in.  You can buy probiotics at a health food store, however I am a big proponent of whole foods.  Fermented foods such as miso soup (in most supermarkets now), sauerkraut, and kefir are great ways to increase you probiotic intake.

-       Herbs and spices

Herbs and spices such as such as garlic, ginger, basil, turmeric, coriander etc etc have many medicinal benefits. Increasing immune response is just one of them.  Tip – have them fresh and if adding to cooking, add them at the end, high temperatures can destroy some of their properties.

-       Green vegetables

Rich in vitamins and minerals, perfect for immunity.  If you don’t feel like a salad try adding spinach to a stew before serving it, or just blend some greens in a blender and drink your salad!

-       Chicken soup

An old wives tale that has some merit! For a chicken soup with a powerful punch make sure you make your own stock, ill post a simple recipe soon.  Chicken soup has many immune boosting properties from the vegetables you add to the gelatine you get from boiling up bones regulating immunity and increasing our digestive properties. This is an amazing meal that help family’s who have sick members to get great nutrition as well as the helping the non-sick family members to help prevent getting sick!

So to sum up if any sort of sickness is going around or you or one of your household members are a bit off – stay away from sugars, processed foods and trans fats.  In your meals include herbs, spices, green vegetables and/or fermented foods. If you don’t feel like eating then try some chicken or miso soup or bled up some green vegetables.

I wish you a healthy winter!

Wal Herring

The information in this Blog is designed for educational purposes only. It is not intended to be a substitute for informed medical advice or care. You should not use this information to diagnose or treat any health problems or illnesses without consulting your doctor.

I studied Physical Education and Nutrition at Otago University, having always been interested in sport I thought nutrition would be a good ‘extra’ to have.  Throughout my time in Otago I found nutrition to be rather interesting and went on to do my Masters in Sports Nutrition.

Soon after graduating I ‘met’ my husband (I say ‘met’ as I had known him 8 years previous, however, just as a friend to have a drink with), he was a professional rugby player.  I had the opportunity to speak about Nutrition to many of his teammates and I was at a loss when I couldn’t give them advice to either help loose fat or gain weight (or both).  They often complained that the advice from their nutritionist didn’t make a difference, I always went away thinking ‘they couldn’t be doing it right’.  I slowly realised that they were telling the truth, they were genuinely trying to get it right, it just wasn’t working for them.  I became dismayed and questioned if nutrition was my path, fortunately a small time after we moved to England and the Leicester Tigers Nutritionist recommend I do an up coming course. I enrolled.

Off I went to this 5 day course and spent the first two maybe three days thinking this guy is ‘off his nut’ – estrogens this, aromatisation that – what planet is he from?  The one major point, which changed my mind, was his view that high protein diets were ok, in fact they were recommended.  I was taught that they give you renal failure.  Going back to the original research, I found this to be untrue, yes, if you had prior kidney issues, high protein diets could be harmful, but, for healthy individuals…. nothing to show overworked kidneys.

Since this ‘discovery’ I have been doing my own personally directed research.  I love to learn and I want to share this knowledge with you.  If you don’t agree with any of my posts, please comment and write. If you have any articles/research that I can go away are read that backs your point up, not essential, but even better. As I said I love to learn.

This blog is not about me making any money, it is purely about dragging you into my world of aspiring for the healthiest mind, body and soul you can have.  Nutrition, health and helping others are my passions.

Wal Herring