Article: Healthy (junk) food

Article by Cosmopolitan

Healthy (junk) food

5:48AM, Jan 24

Some fatty foods dress up in health foods’ clothes, ready to trick us all. But we’re calling their bluff…

You might think you’re doing yourself (and your bod’) a favour munching on the foods below. But stop right now: did you know that appearances can be deceiving and even though it looks healthy, it doesn’t mean it is. Quelle horreur. Here are some of the main offenders…

Wraps. They’re so much thinner than a slice of bread, so they much be loads better for you, right? Wrong, with a capital W! Most wraps are just as processed as white bread, with some even hiding three times the carbs and calories in their skinny appearance. Instead, try an open-faced sandwich, with chicken and salad sitting on top of one slice of whole grain bread.

Green tea energy drink. Anything with green tea in it sounds like it should be synonymous with good health. But, this is another cheeky thing that hides behind a healthy exterior: one bottle of store-bought ice tea contains the same amount of sugar as 37 lollipops. Bin it. Water with a squeeze of fresh lime or lemon is a lot better for you. Or if you really need a hit of flavour, try a small dash of apple juice with soda water, so think one part juice, eight parts water.

White rice sushi. Sushi is a carb bomb waiting to happen and a large roll can have the equivalent to four slices of bread. Yes, one California roll equals two sandwiches! But, we all love sushi so of course we are still going to eat it, but try to eat smaller portions, opt for brown rice varieties and substitute half of your sushi meal for sashimi, which is uber good for you.

Caesar/Waldorf salads and the like. Obviously salads are the healthy eater’s holy grail, but be warned, all salads aren’t created equal! Adding any rich dressing (think ranch, mayo etc.), lots of cheese, nuts or fried anything will take your virtuous salad from super healthy to secretly naughty. The best option is to dress your it with lemon or a bit of balsamic vinegar because lots of dressing options have hidden nasties.

Dried fruit. Cup-for-cup the dried varieties have eight times the sugar and calories than their fresh counterparts. AND lots of brands even added sugar to dried fruits, like cranberries, to make then sweeter. Proceed with caution.

Granola. Oats are great, nuts (in moderation) are great and honey (again in small amounts) is great too. But add all of these together and then crisp them in oil, and you have one delish, but extremely high-calorie cereal. Try oats with fresh fruit and nuts instead or a whole grain cereal that isn’t fried or baked.

Bran muffins. The fibre in wholegrain muffins is great, but when you consider all the butter and sugar that goes into them, even the wholemeal variety, you might as well treat yourself to a slice of cake.

Rice cakes. It’s not that these snacks are really bad for you, but that’s what they are, just snacks. They are highly processed (particularly the white varieties) and contain no fibre or protein, so they won’t satisfy you. You might think you’re doing yourself a favour by eating a few for lunch, but you will actually just end up starving in a couple of hours and then overeating.

Juice. Like dried fruit, juice is a poor alternative to the fresh version. It contains all of the sugar from the fruit, but none of the fibre and good stuff, so basically it’s empty calories because it won’t fill you up either.

Favoured, fat-free yogurt. Just because something is fat free, doesn’t make it healthy. Take no-fat yogurt, it usually packs a huge sugary punch, with some small tubs having up to 15 grams of the white stuff! If you can’t live without your yogurt fix buy some low-fat Greek yogurt and add flavour with fresh fruit.

Protein bars. Gym junkies world over chow down on these like there is no tomorrow, but if you actually flip them over and read the nutritional info, you’ll see that they are high in artificial ingredients, fillers and sugar. You may as well eat a chocolate bar!

News Article: The skinny on coconut oil

Virgin coconut oil has been given the superfood stamp of approval from celebs and natural health buffs, but what do the scientists say?

"It's going gangbusters" ... sales of coconut oil are rising with its health hype, but it doesn't get a tick from the National Heart Foundation.

By AMANDA BRYAN

Jan. 3, 2013, 6:17 p.m.



Photo: Ben Rushton

As budding superfoods go, virgin coconut oil should face an uphill battle: it's chock-full of saturated fat which usually equates to artery-clogging cholesterol and kilojoules.

Yet despite a lack of endorsement from key health organisations, the oil continues to fly off the shelves on the back of health claims around weight loss, memory protection and digestion.
Queensland coconut oil importer and distributor Nature Pacific says its sales more than doubled last financial year. “Put simply it's going gangbusters,” says its marketing manager, Phil Brosgarth.

Miranda Kerr's personal chef uses coconut oil in cooking.

Though traditionally the domain of health food shops, delis and increasingly major retailers such as Woolworths are starting to stock the oil, which can sell for up to $15 a pop.

Dieticians and doctors also say they're fielding more questions than ever from patients wondering if coconut oil lives up to the health hype.

“A few months ago, patients started asking me if they should be taking it for this or that, or whether it would raise their cholesterol,” says Vicki Kotsirilos, a Melbourne GP and co-author of A Guide to Evidence-Based Integrative and Complementary Medicine.

Dr Kotsirilos decided to scan the research herself and even consulted an expert or two so she had some answers for her patients. She concluded that when eaten as part of a balanced diet which included seafood, vegetables and an active lifestyle, whole coconut appeared not to raise cholesterol levels.

“I've not been convinced by the research that it does do harm,” she says.

Coconut oil products are not about to get the National Heart Foundation tick, however. The organisation continues to stand firm on the topic, advising consumers against using the oil due to its high saturated fat content.

“The Heart Foundation believes that the research on the health benefits of coconut oil is inconclusive,” its senior manager of food supply, Barbara Eden, says.

"Our recommendations are based on good-quality scientific evidence and don't recommend eating foods high in saturated fat. There are many healthier oils that don't raise cholesterol levels or increase the risk of heart disease," she says.

On the other side of the divide are advocates like Mike Foale, formerly of the CSIRO in Brisbane, who point out that not all saturated fats are bad.

Coconut oil is made up of medium-chain fatty acids that are considered heart-friendlier than their long-chain counterparts found in animal products.

Researchers, meanwhile, continue to report tantalising findings. Three years ago, Sydney's Garvan Institute of Medical Research compared mice fed on diets rich in lard or coconut oil. The latter, they found, were protected against insulin resistance and avoided accumulation of body fat – both of which are strongly associated with type 2 diabetes.

(They also noted, though, that eating lots of medium-chain fatty acids to boost weight loss could lead to fat build up in the liver.)

A small Brazilian study also published in 2009 compared the effect of a daily 30ml dose of soybean oil or coconut oil on obese women. Only the latter experienced a reduction in abdominal waist circumference.

Alan Barclay, a spokesman for the Dietitians Association of Australia, says in light of growing public interest, he also did a little digging to determine how conclusive the scientific literature was.
He says he looked only at the studies done on humans and found most of these were small, of short duration and too few in number to make powerful claims.

The oil seems to be fine when used in the context of traditional cuisine, Dr Barclay says. “Problems arise when you call it a miraculous cure and add it to a Western diet.”

Dr Kotsirilos agrees. She notes there are no long-term population studies that prove coconut oil has positive effects.

“I tell my patients not to use this as medicine at this point until there is more research,” she says.

Accredited nutritionist and dietitian Catherine Saxelby says the lack of data may not deter everyone. Coconut oil appeals to vegans, she notes, and is also finding favour among those wishing to avoid processed foods, like those on the Paleo diet.


Others note that coconut oil has other benefits. It is more stable at high temperatures than many other oils and imparts a sweet flavour that suits particular dishes such as Asian curries.
It is also a favoured ingredient of Kate McAloon, personal chef to the Australian model Miranda Kerr, whose penchant for the oil has helped propel the product to prominence.

McAloon says she uses it in omelets, desserts and muffins. She offers the following tips for cooking with coconut oil:

• Look for virgin coconut oil, not its hydrogenated cousin copha.

• Some brands have a stronger flavour while others are more neutral so if one brand doesn't suit you, try another.
• It can be used for frying or baking as it handles high temperature better than many other oils.
• It works well in place of butter in raw treats such as chocolate fudge.

Read it on goodfood.com.au