Guest review by dietitian Nicole Senior APD, AN, author of Belly Busting for Blokes

Two thirds of Australian men are overweight or obese and their big bellies are putting them at risk for chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease and bowel cancer. One of the reasons blokes are bearing the brunt of the obesity epidemic is they tend to outsource their food, often to the fast food industry. Meal-maker products are ideally positioned to help blokes to resist the urge of fast food and throw a meal together with a minimum of fuss. Birdseye Create-a-meal is such a product. It all sounds good, but how does it stack up?

 

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More than 1.5 million Australians have diabetes. Given the rise in obesity and sedentary lifestyles, more than twice this number will be at risk of developing diabetes in the next 25 years. So it’s timely that the nutrition team from the CSIRO Wellbeing books and Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute have published a book on diabetes.

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Guest review by Airlie Lacy, student dietitian

Too tired to cook? Too busy to shop? Need to lose weight? Busy lifestyles often leave little time to shop, cook and eat the right meals for weight loss. Take-aways are quick and easy but they're no good for your waistline. Are home-delivered diet meals a better option for you? We put one lot to the test ...

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Guest review by dietitian Frances Gilham, APD, AN

SumoSalad claims to be the healthiest fast food franchise. It caters to people looking for nutrition as well as convenience and taste for lunch on the go. And Australians are obviously seeking out healthier options to burgers and pizza – three new SumoSalad stores have recently opened up in Australia, despite the global economic problems. SumoSalad now boasts a grand total of 84 outlets across the country – which is fabulous for nutrition, but still pales in comparison to McDonalds’ 750+ outlets (including McCafes) and Subway’s whopping 1200 stores!

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Looking for a plain healthy biscuit to have with your coffee or tea? Want one that's reasonably healthy, not cream-filled or choc-coated, but still a pleasant sweet mid-meal bite? Here I compare two of the top sellers Arnott's Shredded Wheatmeal and Paradise Highland Oatmeals They look healthy, but are they?

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"Mindless Eating" is one of the best nutrition books I've read in the last four years. It was a real eye-opener for me - and I suspect for most of us - as it shows why you may not realize how much you're eating, what you're eating - or why you're even eating at all!  It starts out by pointing out that everyone makes over 200 food decisions each day but we have no idea why we're making them nor how we're influenced by the "hidden persuaders" around us!

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A "natural" sweetener, Stevia was approved for use in late in 2008 in Australia and the US and the first Stevia products are now appearing on the supermarket shelves.

It's not considered "artificial" and marketing for stevia makes much of it being 100% natural - which appeals to consumers - compared to aspartame or acesulfame-K which are often regarded as "chemical" and can't escape the cancer-scare rumours that have been circulating for years.

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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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Found a great new water drink.  It's bottled water with a splash of lemon flavour. That's it. Nothing else - no sugar, no sweeteners, no calories, no colours, no additives. Just water with flavour. It takes a minute to adjust to the fact that it's colourless but once you do, you suddenly look at all those yellow and green bottles and realise that CLEAR is the way to go. Who says your drink has to look like a kid's colouring book? Who wants all those colours anyway?

 

 

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Me and my lemon again! The weather's got a little chilly last day or so so I've decided to sip my lemon with water as a warm drink. I was making it up with chilled water from the fridge but this got too cold for my stomach first thing in the morning.

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Going well on my new experiment. I definitely am less hungry in the morning after I have my lemon with water first thing. Doesn't seem to have any effect on my appetite during the afternoon or evening but that's exactly what I what have expected. It's a morning only thing.

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Day 3 & 4 were both the same - I felt exactly the same on both so I've combined them.  What I noticed on both these day is that the my glass of water with lemon really makes you feel hydrated first thing in the morning. Especially if you'd had a wine or two the night before and not drunk enough water before going to bed.

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Started my morning with a chilled glass of water with lemon juice as yesterday. Was a bit of an effort to get it all down again this morning but I did it. And I must say it does fill you up and stop you filling hungry.

 

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I've started my day with an old-fashioned diet inclusion - a glass of water with lemon. I squeezed out the juice of half an average lemon and mixed it with cold water - then down the hatch before anything else!

Lemon-and-water is advice I've seen around for years. It's often listed on diet plans supposedly as an early morning cleanser or detox. The diets tell you that the lemon can "magically melt away unwanted fat" - something we all love to hear. In all honesty, I suspect it's just a low-calorie stomach filler that stops you stuffing your face with a croissant or bacon burger.

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Bliss for the tastebuds, hell for the hips!  Recent articles in The Australian, The Washington Post and other newspapers have been touting the existence of what they call "bliss foods". So what is a "bliss food" and what's all the fuss about?

 

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Everyone loves to indulge in chocolate yet we all know it's a food that's laden with fat, sugar and kilojoules - and it's damn hard to stop at just one mouthful.

So it's hardly surprising that dieters have turned hopefully to light chocolate to provide pleasure without guilt. At first glance, it looks like the answer to a dieter's prayers!

I have to say right up front that choc isn't one of my weaknesses (I have others like nougat or soft jellies). But I was interested to see how much you could save by doing a swap from say a regular Mars Bar to a light Mars Bar.

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