Author: Joanna O'Sullivan

If you’re trying to stick to a diet or healthy eating plan, you need to know what you’re actually eating and sometimes the supermarket labels can be deceiving.  You need to be able to navigate the sometimes wildly exaggerated health claims of product labels to know if a product is truly healthy or is it just a marketing hype. So if you’re searching ‘how to read food labels’, now is the perfect time to learn your way around a food label and it’s easy with our guidance.

Lucky for us, food labelling in Australia is governed by Food Standards Australia and New Zealand (FSANZ) which means we have a consistent set of information that must be contained on every label.  So really, those healthy choices are right in front of you, you just need to be able to make sense of it all.  And that’s where we come in.

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For most keto dieters, eggs are the go-to breakfast staple – scrambled, fried, poached, boiled or as an omelette – anyhow you like them is fine.  You can also freely eat your fill of bacon, avocado, cold cuts, olives, nuts, smoked salmon and cheese as well as adding any healthy fats such as olive oil, coconut oil, butter, mayonnaise and coconut cream.  Keto friendly vegetables include leafy greens, zucchini, cauliflower, broccoli, asparagus and eggplant to name a few.

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Understanding the Keto Diet

The ketogenic diet is a high fat, moderate protein, low carbohydrate diet that forces the body to burn fats rather than carbohydrates.

Because of the low carb intake, your body goes into a metabolic state called ketosis. This is where the body produces small fuel molecules called ‘ketones’ from burning fat for energy (instead of glucose which is derived from carbohydrates). When the body is in ketosis, the fat for energy is drawn from either the dietary intake or fat stores in the body, which is one of the reasons this diet is linked to weight loss.

A typical Western diet contains approximately 250g of carbs per day, whereas ketogenic diets limit carbohydrate to just a fraction of this amount. Suffice to say, adopting a keto regime can be quite a radical change from many people’s normal eating habits!

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Learning the art of healthy food swaps is so important if you want to establish a healthy body weight and maintain it for life. Here we show you how.

Firstly, what exactly do we mean by food swaps? Well, it’s simply choosing a more nutritious or lower calorie meal or snack option rather than going for the most tempting, heavily laden with fat and sugar, nutrition-less version.

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Did you know that tennis champion Venus Williams is a vegan? We often associate sporting performance with a diet rich in animal meat proteins but now there are a number of high profile sports stars who are proving that plant-based diets can absolutely provide all the right fuel.

In Venus’ case, she made the switch when she was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease that nearly ended her tennis career. Unable to play and forced to withdraw from a number of matches, she eventually sought treatment and radically changed her eating habits. She attributes her plant eating ways with not only helping fight her condition but also giving her a newfound strength on the court.

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The benefits of physical activity extend far beyond simply managing your weight. Moving has been proven to improve a wide range of health markers both physically and mentally!  How would you like to…..

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It’s vital to human health to get a calm and restful sleep and enough of it. Our body’s repair and rejuvenation depends on it. Scientific studies have shown that good sleep can help you be a healthier person, one who eats less and exercises more effectively. A restful slumber can also boost your mood and your overall ability to function. The outcomes are not to be underestimated!

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Most of us have all the right intentions to eat healthy food but over time we get busy or lack inspiration and suddenly we realise that the ‘sometimes’ foods become more like the ‘everyday’ foods. If this sounds like you, then here’s some tips for getting the balance right again, but first – get your pantry organised.

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Flexitarian is the new buzz word when it comes to how to eat. If you haven’t heard of it yet you will now, you might even be on one without knowing it!

The word basically means flexible vegetarian. The true vegetarians amongst you might find that odd – you either are or you aren’t – but with my nutrition hat on I think it’s generally a good thing.

It encourages those of us who choose to eat animal foods, especially meat, to opt for a few more vegetarian meals in our week and give a serious boost to our plant food intake.

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Want it all home-made but don’t have the time? We’ll help show you how to fake it this Christmas.  That’s right, but shhhhh now…. it’s our top tips on how to order in this festive season and pass it all off as your own.  Truly, your guests will think you’re rocking a 5 star restaurant.  And why not, it’s just working smarter not harder, isn’t it?

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