Fouhy Dietitians

Chocolate & red wine – stop kidding yourself!

admin — Tue, 11 May 2010 22:21:26 +0000

Despite what many people will tell you, chocolate (white, milk OR dark) & red wine does NOT provide any heart health benefit. There is no doubt that both chocolate & red wine can be incorporated into a healthy eating plan and yes its true both of these items contain antioxidants but in a review of more than 100 studies, there was no cardiovascular benefit shown so if thats the reason you use to justify your consumption – think again as they will only be adding to your total daily calories and probably your wasitline!

Food Labels – are they wrong?

admin — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 20:13:21 +0000

A recent newspaper article reported that “food labels are wrong” because the calories listed do not account for the amount of energy used to chew and digest the food and are therefore overestimated. But does it really matter? Simply stating that a food has 20 less calories is hardly going to improve our obesity problem – it just gives people an excuse to eat even more! And anyway of the people that read labels, how many actually understand them?! The food label debate isn’t going away with some suggesting NZ should adopt a traffic light system but I can’t see food manufactures agreeing to that – who’s going to want to put red dots on their product!?!

Don’t detox, just de-junk!

admin — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 20:11:47 +0000

Detox diets are pretty popular at this time of the year but beware – they are not good for you! They often encourage the elimination of total food groups and can lead to dehydration and altered electrolyte balance and as for the weight loss – well most of it is water, not fat loss which means it is easily regained once the detox in completed. Secondly, it’s a ‘diet’ and diet is just the word DIE with a cross at the end – diets are all about deprivation that can not often be sustained so rather than follow some fad for a couple of weeks, just de-junk and make a sustainable life-style change!

Teps to close!

admin — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 22:40:17 +0000

If you haven’t heard already, the AKld city council is planning on closing the Tepid Baths facility for up to 4 years from May next year. There seems to be a hidden council agenda which is behind this badly planned decision to close the Teps, potentially leaving it gathering dust..……

I thought that local governments were meant to promote physical activity! Don’t they know that it promotes health and wellness, not to mention that a lack of it increases the likelihood of weight gain, and I’m sure I don’t need to remind everyone that New Zealand is already the third fattest nation in the OECD!!! Clearly John Banks has rocks in his head because obesity costs the tax payer and ultimately his rate payers hundreds of thousands of dollars every year!

Low GI sugar – what a load of bollocks!

admin — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:03:23 +0000

Just because it’s low GI doesn’t mean it is good for you. For example, chocolate is low GI but that doesn’t mean you should eat more if it! Don’t get sucked in by the marketing magic because the GI is only a number and you hardly ever just have sugar – it is normally added to other things, e.g. porridge, baking, milk in coffee, tea etc and all of those other ingredients have an impact on how fast your blood sugars rise. Sugar is sugar – brown, raw, white, low GI or not, it is still sucrose so still provides approx 16 empty calories in every teaspoon!

BLACKCAPS through to final

admin — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 07:10:54 +0000

The BLACKCAPS have convincingly beaten Pakistan to progress through to Tuesday’s final against Australia……by 5 wickets and 2.1 overs to spare. They were written off by many after the tour of Sri Lanka but if I have learned anything from the BLACKCAPS over the last 10 months it is that if you believe in yourself and in each other anything is possible. They have, despite injuries to key team members, rallied together and outplayed their opposition with the ball, the bat and in the field. The paper sumed it up yesterday when they said they have played ….”with the precision of a Formula One driver and the bravery of a bullfighter” …..the final is shaping up to be a real hum-dinger!

The BLACKCAPS have already won the ICC Spirit of Cricket award and the Champions Trophy would look great next to it in the cabinet at cricket HQ….if anything is for certain about tomorrows final, it is that Australia will have to be at their very best to beat this BLACKCAP outfit. All the best lads

Champions Trophy 2009

admin — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 02:59:14 +0000

BLACKCAPS make the semis!

The BLACKCAPS have smashed England to finish top of their group and progress through to the semi-finals. A superb bowling performance saw the previously unbeaten England dismissed for 146 which Brendon McCullum and Martin Guptill then made look like childs play as they took to the English bowlers scoring 66 off the first 10 overs. Captain Dan Vettori and James Franklin finished it off in the 28th over. Good on ya lads!

The spread debate

admin — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 01:41:21 +0000

We can’t use jam or honey because they have too much sugar, we can’t use vegemite/ marmite because they have too much salt, we can’t use peanut butter because it has too much fat so that doesn’t leave us much – only perhaps some crusty dry toast. But lets put this all in perspective folk – they are spreads (spread being the key word). All spreads should be able to be included (even Nutella) in a well balanced diet, provided they are used in appropriate amounts and not so thick that you leave teeth marks in the spread! Remember everything in moderation, including moderation itself

Be watching ”Whats really in our food?’ next Tuesday 8:00pm TV3 for the latest on the red meat saga.