There has been an alarming increase in the number of people suffering from Coeliac disease (an autoimmune disorder of the small intestine) over the last 10 years. When I first started cooking we were lucky to see 1 or 2 a week and these days chefs are seeing 2-3 per dinner service and even allocating dishes on there menus to accommodate. Coeliac disease is caused by a reaction to gliadin, a gluten protein found in wheat and symptoms range from chronic diarrhea to fatigue.

Although the term “sugar addiction” is not scientifically used it does relate to the addiction-like cravings some people have towards sweet foods and drinks. How many people do you know that have said they have a “sweet tooth” or even say that they were addicted to sugar?
Sugar has crept into our diet at an alarming rate. Some groups even believe that excessive consumption is a leading factor in obesity amongst Australians.

This is in my top ten simple tasty and versatile things to prepare and eat. Preparation time,2-5 min, cooking time 25-30min. Compared to regular white starchy potato, sweet potato is loaded with complex carbohydrates, dietary fibre, vitamin C, vitamin B6 and beta carotene.  It’s all about getting the most out of your meal choices- more often than not the colourful option will have a higher nutritional value.
So what was that about versatile you ask? From one tray of roast sweet potato you get an afternoon snack, post workout carbohydrate hit (without excess sugar), safe and tasty carbohydrate to add to your salads for lunch or dinner and if you’re still hungry after dinner and looking for a nibble, forget potato chips, grab a handful of roasted sweet potato instead.

The focus of pre packaged food is quick and convenient sales for the supplier, not the nutritional value for the consumers. Pre packaged foods in most cases contain additives, flavour enhancers and many other unnatural things just to give it the required shelf life for sale and it then needs to keep long enough in your cupboard or fridge until the time you feel the urge to snack.

Eating healthy nutritious food is the foundation to good health and fitness. But with so many ‘healthy’ pre packaged options out there today it’s no wonder people think that eating healthy is as easy as drinking diet or low sugar drinks and eating light or low fat microwave meals, take some weight loss shakes to replace a few meals and chuck in a few multivitamins.

The decision to embark on a training regime, losing weight or to generally improve your health is life changing. It would be naive to think it is going to be an easy change or even happen overnight. You need to make changes not only to what you do physically and to what you eat, but you also need to change your way of thinking.

Weight loss is a bi-product of a healthy, functioning and well fuelled body but for some reason we all seem to want one without even considering the other.
 

As I state in my Food & Nutrition page, 70% of weight loss comes from diet alone. For a lot of people understanding what is considered a healthy diet isn’t always that easy. There is a lot of conflicting information out there these days and it’s my belief we’re simply over complicating the basics of human diet. It’s mind boggling to me