fertile foods

Maybe it's just my age but it seems like everyone I know is getting pregnant at the moment. 

So it got me thinking about food and fertility and what you should be eating to increase your chances of making a bambino.

It stands to reason that having an overall healthy diet and lifestlye is the most important thing to increase your chances of fertility. Being a healthy weight is important for starters, especially for women. Body mass index is the best way to measure whether you are at a healthy weight and you should ideally be aiming for a BMI between 20 - 24.9. The reason for this is that anything other than a normal weight BMI can impact on the body's natural hormone balance. 

In terms of nutrients, vitamin B6 is important for female hormone production. Foods such as watercress, peppers, asparagus, chicken, eggs, lentils and brown rice are all good sources of vitamin B6. Magnesium is also a great nutrient for hormone production so try to fill your plate with lots of green leafy vegeatbles, nuts and seeds.

As for the boys, sperm production is driven by the hormone testosterone. Stress can lower testosterone production (which impacts on sperm quality and quantity) so if you're working super hard or finding yourself stressed alot, try to find time to chill out and relax.

Nutrition wise, zinc and selenium are both brilliant for enhancing testosterone levels and sperm production. Foods such as brazil nuts, seafood, meat and poultry are good sources of both zinc and selenium. Pumpkin seeds in particular are especially high in zinc.

Omega 3 is a magic fat that has many functions and new research indicates it may also help with fertility. Recent studies have shown that omega-3 is linked to healthy hormone function so swap red meat for oily fish such as salmon, mackerel or sardines or if you're veggie, a great vegetarian alternative is avocado.

So if you're hoping to make babies, my top tips would be to fill your plate with health, sprinkle it with pumpkins seeds, keep happy and stay chilled.

As ever, any questions, drop me a line

Dr Shilps (aka the Love Dr)

 

shilpee's lunch box tips

I remember that back to school feeling like it were yesterday. Toad-in-the-hole, jam roly-poly, custard with everything. School dinners were just another reason not to want to rush back through the school gates.

Government guidelines are now in place to ensure that school meals are healthy. When I was lass only a few lucky kids had packed lunches and I spent many lunchtimes enviably eyeing up their pickled onion Monster Munch. These days though, things are a whole lot healthier and there's lots of advice about how to make your lunch box as healthy as possible.

So what's the secret behind a healthy (and tasty) lunch box?

Firstly, make sure you choose foods from the four main food groups -

1) Bread, other cereals and potatoes

Try and use a variety of breads to keep lunch boxes exciting. Wholemeal baguettes, mini pitta breads, multigrain and seed rolls and bagels are all good. 'Whole white bread' (which is white bread with a third of wholemeal bread) is great for kids.  Fruit scones and currant buns are a tasty treat once in a while. And then things like rice and pasta salads are both healthy alternatives to sandwiches.

2) Fruit and vegetables

There are loads o ways to squeeze some fruit and veg into lunch boxes. Sweet juicy cherry tomatoes are a great lunchtime food. Sticks of carrot, cucumber, and peppers are also fab for lunchtime snackin especially when you add a healthy dip like low fat hummus. Easy to peel satsumas, grapes, bananas and little boxes of raisins are loved by kids.  Our fruit squeezies (100% pureed fruit with a dash of fruit juice) are handy little tubes of fruit with no bits, no added sweeteners or sugars or funny business

3) Protein

Meat, fish and the vegetarian alternatives are all great lunchtime fillers.  Ham, cold roast chicken , prawns and tuna fish are all popular with kids. Stuff like boiled eggs, hummus, mixed nuts and peanut butter all make excellent vegetarian options. Why not try making a Spanish omelette with lots of fresh veggies the night before and saving the leftovers for lunchboxes?

4) Milk and dairy foods

Cheddar, Edam, cheese triangles, fruit yoghurts, fromage frais and drinking yoghurt are all excellent sources of calcium which as everyone know is important for strong healthy bones. Pop in some mini cheeses for a quick calcium hit.

Other bits and bobs

Stay hydrated

It's also very important to keep hydrated throughout the day. Smoothies, fruit  juice, sugar-free squash, milk and water are all great ways to do this.

Keep treats a treat

Try and and limit foods from the 5th food group (i.e. things containing fat and added sugar). A nice biscuit or fun size chocolate bar would be fine as an occasional treat.

Variety is the spice of lunchboxes

To keep lunchtime interesting, try to get as much variety as possible into your packed lunch as possible. With so many different types of breads, meats, cheeses, salads, fruit and healthy drinks  out there, lunchtime is a great time to get kids trying a range of textures and tastes.

As ever, if you have any questions just let me know.

Bye for now

Dr Shilps

autumn foods

I'm one of those girls who's always always cold. I've even be known to put my electric blanket on in the height of summer. So it's no surprize that I'm starting to look like the michelin man when I climb into bed at night (sorry hubby) now that the evenings are starting to get colder.

So is are there anyway you can eat to keep yourself warmer and what types of foods whould you eat in the autumn? I'm a great believer in seasonal eating and there is reasearch to show that seasonal foods from the country of origin has better nutrition.

Each colour in fruit and veg relates to a different phytonutrients. Autumn is about deep green (rich in lutein), dark yellow (high in vitamin C and flavanoids) and  deep orange (rich in carotene). These are rich in disease fighting chemicals and as the colours of  fruit and vegetables in autumn are so rich , this means that they are particularly dense in nutrition too.

My top 3 autumn fruit and veg are

pumpkins - not just for halloween for know. These lovely looking fruits are full of the antioxidant, beta-carotene and are also rich in vitamin C and folate. Beta -carotene is a carotenoid and mayhelp to reduce the risk of developing certain types of cancers.

winter squash - winter squah is different from summer squash as it has a hard rind and a fibrous centre that is inedible. The flesh though is fantastic and winter squah is one of the very few vegtables that doesn't lose its quality after picking. Winter squash is a rich source of vitamin A and also folate which can help to keep your heart healthy.

figs (my Dad's favourite) - figs are very high in fibre in fact they have the highest fibre than any other common dried or fresh fruit. And did you know that they are a brilliant source of calcium which is pretty difficult to get naturally in the non dairy form.

Hearty stews made with parsnips, turnips, sweets and beans and pulses are a great way to get the vitamins, protein, carbs and fibre you need in one delicious meal. Alternatively a nice bowl of my speciality - daal with heaps of veggies thrown in will keep you going and warm as the weather changes.

As ever if you have any questions (or recipes) just let me know.

Bye for now,

Dr Shilps

yoghurt

The weekend just gone was a homely one (it's what happens when you get married and spend your weekends in garden centres). As well as lots of pottering, tidying and general domestic goddess duties, I also made my own yoghurt.

Yes really.

And it got me thinking about how wonderful this stuff is.

Yoghurty goodness

For those who've never tried this manna, yoghurt is a form of curdled milk (like sour cream or creme fraiche) but with a lot less fat. Skimmed milk contains only 0.1% fat whilst semi-skimmed milk has 1.6% fat, so if you make your yoghurt out of this type of low fat milk, the yoghurt will also be low fat. 

So why is milk and milk products so important in the diet?

Milk, yoghurt and dairy products are important because they contain the best source of easily absorbable calcium. Other sources include fish with edible bones (salmon, sardines etc), legumes, calcium fortified soy products (like tofu) and fortified breakfast cereals. Calcium is important to helping keep your bones strong and healthy. As we get older, we lose bone mass it's crucial to our bodies and bones that we get enough calcium. After menopause, women are particularly prone to bone thinning (osteoporosis) so ladies, make sure you're getting enough of the white stuff.

Why else is yoghurt so good?

Yoghurt is also rich in calcium, protein, riboflavin, vitamin B12 and B6 (all good stuff) and some yoghurt contains living bacteria which is good news for a happy tummy.

Apart from the nutritional benefits, yoghurt is amazing because there are so many different types out there and you can make so much stuff with it.

For example, it's the main ingredient in our thickies and tastes lovely in other yoghurty drinks, like lassi. Lassi is a traditional Indian yoghurt drink that originated in the Punjab region of India and tastes great with mangoes or just on it's own. I made litres of the stuff last weekend with my homemade yoghurt (much to the delight of my Punjabi hubby) and can't wait to try the mango and cardamom thickie from our first recipe book this weekend.

If you fancy making it at home yourself too, here's the recipe

Mango and cardamom thickie

Ingredients

2 large apples

1 medium sized mango (Alphonso are the best)

3 tbsp of bio yoghurt

1 tsp of clear runny honey

1 cardamom pod

What you need to do

1. Cut the apples into wedges, get rid of the bits you don't usually eat and juice them up.

2. Peel the mango and slice into the blender.

3. Pour in the apple juice, yoghurt and honey.

4. Crush the cardamom pod with the back of a spoon and remove the seeds.

5. Discard the pod, crush the seeds in the same way and add them to the blender.

6. Whizz all ingredients until smooth. Pour into your favourite glass and enjoy.

(If you don't have time to juice the apples, you can use 100ml of bottled, freshly pressed apple juice instead).

As ever, don't hesitate to let me know if you have any questions.

Bye for now,

Dr Shilps

protein and weight loss

 

Hello again. Sorry it's been a while since I posted anything but I've been off getting married and only got back this week (to a whole wall of my face in folds).

While I was away on honeymoon, Sam emailed me to ask if eating more protein is the best way to lose weight.

Well, let's start with the basics. We get our enegry from macronutrients and there are 3 types of macronutrients - carbohydrate, fat and protein.

So how much energy do they all contain?

Carbohydrates: The two main types of carbohydrate are sugar and starch and both provide the same amount of energy (i.e. 1 g of either will give you 3.75 kcal).

Fat: Regardless of whether they are saturated (not so good for you) or unsaturated (much healthier), fat contains more than double the amount of calories as carbohydrate (9 kcals per gram).

Protein: Protein is needed for growth and repair but can also provide energy.  1 gram of protein gives you 4 kcals.

Women need around 2000 kcals a day whilst men need slightly more at 2500 kcals per day. If you want to lose weight, you need to use more energy than you eat. To lose weight in a safe and sensible way, nutritionists and dieticians recommend that you reduce your calorie intake by around 500 kcals a day. And whether you reduce your calories in the form of carbs, fat or protein, it shouldn't make any difference, provided you reduce your calorie intake.

Healthy eating guidelines state that over half of our energy should come from carbohydrate. Fat should make up for no more than a third of our energy for the day. This is because diets high in saturated fat can increase the risk of heart disease. The amount of protein we need in our diet changes throughout our lifetime but in the UK we tend to exceed how much we need.

So my advice for losing weight sensibly is to stick to the healthy eating guidelines. Eating more fibre is an important part of this as fibre is a carbohydrate which is not completely digested. It can also help to keep you feel full and so can help prevent you from snacking. Plus it only has approximately 2 kcals per gram. 

Protein can also help with feelings of fullness. Foods such as lentils and chickpeas are excellent sources of protein and fibre (meaning you get the benefits of both). Or you could just have one of our veg pots and tick all boxes of feeling full, getting your protein and fibre fix and 3 portions of tasty veg.

Hope that makes sense, Sam.

As ever, any questions, just drop me a line,

Dr Shilps

fold a friend

Taking inspiration from the folded face of Ross Kemp (a.k.a Grant Mitchell), some of the folk in the Tropics decided to have their own monthly competition, which has now been dubbed 'Fold a Friend'.

Each budding origamist chooses a photo of selected desk mate (this month: Dr. Shilpee) and employs as many creative creases as possible to make their own origami interpretation of said colleague.

 Jim made a square face Shilps

  

Jeremy received a commended prize for his over-the-shoulder rework.

 

Fliss got fancy with the folds

 

Roberta plumped for toothy

And Miche went for the slightly crumpled look

In the end, it was James M who triumphed with his piece - 'Shilpee: The Philosopher'. Well folded indeed.

Next month: The many faces of IT Jim

diabetes and chocolate

This week's question comes from Chloe who is worried about the amount of chocolate she eats and the risk of getting diabetes. I think Chloe's concern is more about the sugar in chocolate and it's a common misconception that eating too much sugar makes you get diabetes.

  

If you don't already have diabetes, eating sugar will not give you the disease. The most important thing to stop yourself from getting diabetes type 2 is not to be overweight. If you eat more calories than you burn off (whether that's in the form of  fat, sugar, starch or protein) then you'll put on weight. 

So why does being overweight make you more at risk of getting diabetes type 2? You may have heard of a hormone called insulin whose job is to deliver sugar (glucose) to the cells of the body. When a person is overweight, the cells in the body become less sensitive to insulin.This means that there is more circulating blood glucose instead of being taken in to the cells to be used as energy which isn't good for your body.

The other important factor in preventing diabetes type 2 is keeping active. The more active you are the more energy and fat you will burn. And the more exercise you do, the more muscle cells you will have and these cells are more sensitive to insulin than fat.

So coming back to chocolate. It won't give you diabetes per se. If you're eating tonnes of the stuff and don't burn it off, then yes you'll put on weight which could in turn lead to diabetes but that's the same with any food.

Personally, I'm a big fan of dark chocolate which has more cocoa solids in it than milk chocolate.The cocoa bean is high in a natural chemical called flavanols. Research has shown that flavanols can lower insulin resistance so it looks like dark chocolate in small amounts could can actually help prevent daibetes (which is good news for me).

As ever, if you have any questions please don't hesistate to ask.

Bye for now

Dr. Shilps

why do we crave "bad" foods

This weeks question comes from Ad who wants to know why bad food tastes so good.

Now firstly, I don't think that there is such a thing as "bad" food but there is such a thing as a bad diet. If you feast purely on pizzas, burgers and chips everyday, then that would classify as a bad diet in my eyes. However, if you have things like burgers and chips once a week and eat healthily the rest of the time, than that's still a healthy diet overall.

I think Ad is referring more to the cravings we get for all things fatty, salty and sugary. Even as a nutritionist, I still have cravings for a certain pickled onion fried snack from time to time (and nothing else will satisfy).

Research has shown that we are born with innate likes for 3 different tastes - sweet, salty and umami (which is the taste found in meat). We are also wired up to like high fat food because they are the most calorific.

This all goes back to hunter-gatherer times when we needed to focus on high-calorie foods when we could get hold of them to lay down fat and stay alive. Now food is available us all the time, this innate programming can be a problem.

So what's the solution? Well, we can change our pre-programmed likes by trying lots of different types of foods over and over again.  That means eating more the 3 tastes that we innately dislike: bitter, sour and foods that burn. Sounds weird (and slightly unpleasant) but through eating these types of food you can grow to love them (think coffee, limes and curry).

My best piece of advice to curb the crisp cravings is to give yourself lots of healthy and tasty alternatives to chow down on. A handful of dried fruit and nuts for example are great. 

Basically, the more healthy food you eat, the less you eat the less you'll crave the "bad" stuff.

Time to reprogramme those wires.

If you have any thoughts, questions or stuff you'd like to see on my blog posts, then as ever, just drop me a line.

Bye for now

Dr Shilps

slimming down healthily

Finally, we're getting a wee bit of sunshine (hurrah) and for lots of us, the lovely weather is a reminder that there's only a few months till bikini/Speedos time.

Although summer is still a few months away, now is actually a good time to start thinking about losing weight as slimming down gradually is what you should be aiming for. There's nothing worse for your body than losing weight quickly or yo-yo dieting.

The guideline daily amount  (GDA) of calories for a woman is 2000 kcal and for a man is 2500 kcals.  So if you want to lose weight and your BMI is over 25, then you should try and reduce the calories you eat to 1500 kcals per day  (for a woman) and do some sort of physical activity at the same time.

This should result in a weight loss of about 2lbs a week which is a safe and steady weight loss (and means you're more likely to keep the weight off once you've lost it).

Science has also shown that when we lose weight, something known as our basal metabolic rate (BMR) falls too. BMR is the amount of calories we need to go about our day-to-day business and the amount of lean tissue (i.e muscle) we have is related to our BMR.

When you lose weight, most of it is fat but there is also a loss of lean tissue too which is why our BMR falls.

If you lose weight too quickly, you will lose more lean tissue than you should. Consquently,the amount of energy you need to maintain weight will fall and that's how the cycle of yo-yo dieting starts. So when it comes to losing weight, slow and steady always wins the race.

Now, I get asked a lot of questions about the calories in smoothies. Since our smoothies are made from at least 2 portions of fruit, they have the same amount of calories in them as 2 portions of fruit do. These calories come from the naturally occurring sugars found in the fruit. The average amount of calories in a smoothie is 146 kcals (which is only 7% of the amount of calories you should have in a day). Smoothies also give you lots of amazing nutritional treats like 16% of GDA for fibre, vitamin C, lots of anti-oxidants and a whole host of phytonutrients.

When you're trying to lose weight, it's really important that you get all the nutrients you need. Fruit and vegetables by their very nature are full of nutrients and because they contain water, the amount calories are lower than other foods. Smoothies are made from 100% fruit, so are a brilliant way to stay healthy whilst you slim.

As ever, do drop me a line if you have any questions.

Bye for now

Dr. Shilps

oracs and anti-oxidants

This week's question comes from Richard who asks what the ORAC content is of our pomegranate, blueberries and acai smoothie . I'm afraid I'm going to have to go a bit geeky on you for this one.

Firstly what on earth is an ORAC? ORAC stands for Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity and is the method of measuring anti-oxidants in foods. ORAC results are often presented as something known as Trolox equivalents (TE) and the units are in micromole per gram (umol TE/g).

And what is an anti-oxidant exactly? Anti-oxidants are natural chemicals found in food, especially fruit and veg. They help to neutralise free radicals which can cause damage to the body's cells. A free radical is an unpaired electron (so it has a negative charge). An anti-oxidant can neutralise the negative charge and so stops damage.

There are various families of anti-oxidants found in fruit. These include flavanoids, polyphenols, anthocyanins, and vitamins A, C and E.  Pomegranates, blueberries and acai all contain good levels of anti-oxidants and this smoothie contain over 3000 umol per 250ml which is pretty good for a little bottle. And if that wasn't good enough this smoothie also gives you 2 portions of fruit.

As ever let me know if you have any questions.

Bye for now

Dr Shilps