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Sugar in Fruit and Juice - What You Need To Know
Many of us think about fruit as part of our ‘5 a day’. It’s healthy, great whizzed up for juicing or smoothies, and the more the better… or is it? Fruit is certainly something we should all be eating and contains vital nutrients and antioxidants that form part of a healthy and balanced diet, but on the flip side, fruit contains sugar, and often a significant amount. Although fruit sugars are natural and often in the form of fructose, your body will still process them in a similar way to spoonfuls of refined sugar. How much sugar is in fruit?The table...
Understanding the Effects of Alcohol
Many of us enjoy alcohol, whether it be to unwind at the end of a stressful day or help get in the party mood. The aim of this post is not to say you should stop drinking, but to be educational and arm you with knowledge of the processes alcohol goes through in the body, and even explain how it might do you some good! How Does Alcohol Get Used by the Body?After swallowing, alcohol goes into the stomach and then into the small intestine. Roughly 20% is absorbed by the stomach with the remaining 80% absorbed through the small intestine....
Fibre: What Is It, and How Much Do We Need?
The importance of consuming sufficient dietary fibre is paramount to maintaining our health. However, most of us are not getting enough fibre on a daily basis. What is fibre?Fibre is a form of carbohydrate that we get from plant foods. There are two main types of fibre that are good for us – soluble and insoluble: soluble fibre is usually found in the fleshy part of fruits, vegetables, peas, beans, etc., while insoluble fibre can be found in the skins and seeds of fruit and vegetables, brown rice, peas, beans and the bran (outer layer) of grains and cereals. Resistant starches can...
Are you on a Blood Sugar Rollercoaster?
Blood sugar levels can have a huge effect on our daily health and wellbeing. For those taking an interest in their day-to-day health, it's very worthwhile understanding what blood sugar is and how the 'blood sugar rollercoaster' can potentially be a problematic issue to our health and wellbeing. How Does Blood Sugar Relate to Daily Health?When we digest food, our body turns it into glucose. Blood sugar is glucose (sugar) that is circulated in the bloodstream to be used as a source of energy by our cells and brain. When eating a healthy and 'balanced' diet, this process is very normal and pretty much takes care...
Eat Well for Less
Eating healthy food is expensive, right? It really doesn’t have to be that way. In fact, many ready meals and processed foods cost more than a home prepared meal or snack. In no particular order, here's my tips for eating healthily without breaking the bank: GENERAL Cut down on meat and fish or even go veggie a few times a week. Vegetables are generally much cheaper than meat. In the UK we tend to focus a meal around meat, often at the expense of eating enough veg. For optimum nutrition, aim for 50% of your plate being vegetables. Batch cook. Making enough to put in...