The Foodwatch Blog

Are you so busy at work that you can't even spare ten minutes to go out and buy lunch? Wouldn't it be great if there were something quick and easy you could grab; something you could keep in your desk drawer; something that doesn't need to be refrigerated and yet is healthy?

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There are so many milks in the dairy case these days, it can be hard to work out which one suits you. And when you notice that they cost more than regular low-fat or home-brand milk, you start to think twice.

Here I review three of the more ‘unusual' added-value low-fat milks so you can see if one is worth paying the extra for your health problems.

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BARLEYmax. It's being touted as the greatest super food of all time and the king of cereal grains. BARLEYmax has finally appeared in our food supply in the form of two new breakfast cereals, the first products to be made with the super barley. It's been over 12 years in the making with scientists from CSIRO devoting their life work to breeding it, testing it, growing it as a commercial barley harvest, and finally working with a food company to create interesting novel food products to showcase its benefits.

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Guest post by nutritionist Josephine Mollica

Eating a wide variety of different foods is a key principle of good nutrition - if you're short on iodine, selenium or some other trace element, for instance, you stand a better chance of getting it from 40 foods than from just 10. This principle of Variety is so important it's enshrined as the first of 13 Dietary Guidelines for good health.

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People often ask me why we nutritionists keep changing out minds! One year, carbohydrate is wonderful, the next year it's not. One year, fat is a no-no, the next year, it's only saturated fat that we should worry about, the other fats are ‘good' fats that are OK to eat and enjoy. Protein was ‘forgotten' for some years, now it's back and considered important for satiety and weight loss.

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The township of Bundanoon and the NSW State Government have decided to ban bottled water  (although the State Government is contracted until 2011 to purchase it for staff and offices). They're sick of plastic bottles in landfills and can't see why we can't simply drink water straight from the tap.  Sounds like a "bottler" of an idea but is it really? Here are the pros and cons...

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Sugar. We all love its soft sweetness but it's clear we overdo its consumption. As a nation, Australia has a collective sweet tooth that sees us consuming ¾ of a kilo a week of the stuff. From soft drinks to ice cream, doughnuts to dessert, sugar is everywhere. While it's not the cause, it's certainly contributing to health problems such as tooth decay, and being overweight .

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Soup is one of my favourite winter meals. Thick and hearty, it's warming and satisfying. It's a key food if you want to lose some weight without going hungry.

Soups are pretty easy to make (unlike pastry or fiddly finger food) but, depending on the type, can take 2 or 3 hours, as they often require long, slow simmering.

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Now that the 2009 series of The Biggest Loser has finished in Australia, here's my take on the third season:

1. It's hard - very hard - lose weight. It takes time and persistence, two things in short supply in our modern world. The contestants had nothing else to focus on except their weight - they had the time to exercise for 3 or 4 hours a day, count calories, plan their meals, think about why they turn to food for comfort.

2. The contestants didn't have to cope with the ‘real world' - they didn't have to go to work, look after a family, shop for groceries, cook for others who can eat what they like without putting on weight, deal with the stress of traffic, queues, delays, road rage, screaming kids and demanding bosses.

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Do your kids like to snack on fruit leather or fruit straps, those sweet long thin flat pieces of dried fruit? They come individually wrapped in single serves like muesli bars. They're easy to throw in a kids' lunch box as they're so light and thin. And they add a pleasant sweet treat to a wholesome lunch. But each time I spy some at my fruit market (placed tantalisingly at the check out), I have to ask myself: are they really a healthy snack or just confectionery in disguise?

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