By Judy Davie
For further information about food and nutrition, visit Judy Davie’s website at www.thefoodcoach.com.au
“I love to bake for the family but know it’s not great for my health or weight. Is oil better to use than butter?”
— Cathy
I always use either oil or a table spread (called Omega spread) when I bake, but for health reasons only. Gram for gram there’s little difference in energy between butter and oil, in fact butter has less calories than oil, but the advantage of using oil is the type of fat. Non animal fats like olive oil, sunflower and grape seed are unsaturated fats and, unlike butter (a saturated fat), will not raise cholesterol levels and increase the risk of heart disease. Olive oil, being a monounsaturated fat, is known to reduce levels of LDL cholesterol. Vegetable fats are also more easily metabolised by the body, meaning your body is more likely to burn the oil for immediate energy than store it as body fat.
A problem of course is that many cakes and other baked goods don’t work as well without butter. Oil for example won’t act as a shortening to make flaky pastry and you simply can’t make a light fluffy cake without creaming butter and sugar together. If you’re happy to restrict your baking to heavier textured quick baking cakes or muffins then oil is perfect to use.
These muffins are quick and easy and can be enjoyed for breakfast:
Wholemeal apple and walnut muffins
1031 kj (245 cal)
3g fibre
¾ cup unbleached self raising white flour
¾ cup wholemeal self raising flour
1½ teaspoons cinnamon
1/3 cup caster sugar
2 tablespoons chopped walnuts
1 apple, grated
2 tablespoon grapeseed oil
¾ cup cultured buttermilk
1 egg, beaten
Preheat the oven to 200C
Lightly oil the muffin tray
Mix the dry ingredients together in a bowl and combine the grated apple.
In another small bowl mix the oil, buttermilk and egg together.
Gently combine the dry ingredients through the wet, taking care not to over-mix.
Fill a muffin pan with the mixture and bake for 15- 20 minutes.
Makes six large muffins
“I’ve been feeling really tired lately. I’m strictly following a 6000kj diet plan and have lost quite a lot of weight but instead of feeling better I’m often exhausted.”
— Pam
Without knowing exactly what you’re eating or how much you weigh it’s hard to know why you are so tired, although 6000kj is a low energy intake.
It may be by restricting your intake; your body is not getting all the necessary nutrients it needs to perform efficiently. For energy you need a range of nutrients including, but not limited to, B complex vitamin, iron, and magnesium, found in a variety of diverse foods including whole grains, meat, nuts and seeds, seafood, and beans.
On a reduced-energy intake diet, even if your diet is meticulous, ensuring your body gets its required five serves of vegetables, two fruit, whole grains, lean protein and good fats, there’s no guarantee you are getting all the nutrients you need. It may be necessary therefore to take a multi vitamin to bridge the nutritional deficit.
Most health food stores have qualified naturopaths on site who can advise the best supplement to take. A broad spectrum multivitamin taken for a week or so should make a difference and if it doesn’t you should consider eating a little more and increasing your level of activity.
“My husband just can’t be bothered eating vegetables and salad greens. He’s a great cook but a traditional cook and loves eggs and bacon, roast dinners and cheese. Apart from being too fat, I’m worried about his health. Do you have any suggestions?”
It’s hard when he’s in the kitchen preparing the food — he either has to want to do it himself and make the effort to modify his eating habits or you’ll have to ban him from the kitchen and prepare all the meals.
If you have the time to prepare the food for him, you could negotiate with him to cook all the meals for four weeks while he takes the time to play with the kids/go for a walk/do some other jobs around the house. The deal: If he (and he will) notices a physical and mental improvement, he has to commit to incorporating these changes when he’s doing the cooking.
“Please help me. My eating has become out of control.”
The way to take control of your eating is with a step-by-step plan.
- Decide on the day you are going to start and plan what you are going to eat each day. You may want to use a tried and tested diet where the planning is all done for you. The CSIRO, low-GI diet or our own Body Blitz diet plans are all good.
- Write down what you are going to eat at each meal and make a shopping list with everything you need for the week ahead.
- Shop for everything the day before.
- Throw out or give away any of the foods that you may have binged on in the past. Foods like ice cream, biscuits, savoury chips and soft drinks should all be thrown away.
- (Here are the hard ones) Think about why your eating has become out of control and write down the reasons. For most women it’s an emotional problem, often a result of low self worth and unhappiness.
- Ask yourself the question, what can I do to change the situation that causes me unhappiness. We each have the power to control our life, even though at times it may not seem to be the case. It’s a common problem to believe that our own happiness is dependant on someone else or some other thing. “If only I had more money” or “If only I was in a loving relationship” are common words spoken by those who battle weight and self worth issues. Happiness can only be found when you have a loving relationship with yourself and that can only be achieved when you start doing things to be proud of.
- Set long-term and short-term goals. Studies show that when you write down what you want to achieve there is more chance of achieving it.
- Recognise the challenges you might face as you pursue your goals and in anticipation of these challenges, write down how you might overcome them.
- Believe that you can. Every day, many times a day, tell yourself you can do it and never give way to self doubt. You are as capable as the most capable person you know — it’s just a matter of believing that.
- Seize control and do it.
