Avocado Advent Calendar

December is nearly upon us, another year flown by and the shops and television adverts are now in full Christmas mode, work functions are being planned and Christmas parties will be happening every week.  Inevitably this will lead to much indulgence coming over the following month, and I would be very naive to suggest, no let me rephrase, naive to expect people to hold back on their enjoyment after a hard year.  

However, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to get people to keep focusing on adding some good, healthy, nutritious food to their diets every day.

I am taking part in what I’m calling the “Avocado Advent Calendar”.  It’s quite simple; eat an avocado a day for 24 days up to Christmas day (feel free to do the full 31 days in December if you wish). 

Why? I hear you ask.

Avocado’s are finally fighting their way back to superfood status after many years of being left out in the cold due to the disastrous “low fat diet” years.   

Here are 10 reasons to take part and start eating more avocados.

Detoxification – Avocados are full of glutathione, which is both a great detoxifier and an antioxidant. Toxins stick to the glutathione which is then excreted through your stool.

Heart health – Avocados are rich in monounsaturated fat which, when eaten in the correct quantities, can reduce the risk of heart disease, strokes and improves blood lipid levels.

Natural skin moisturiser – Avocado oil can help many skin conditions, such as; dry skin, dermatitis, eczema, age spots, sun damage and psoriasis.  It also improves the production of collagen which will help improve skin condition.

Fights cancer – Avocado is full of anti cancer properties such as, Vitamin E, oleic acid, photochemical, anti-oxidants and dietary plant fat.

Reduce blood pressure – Avocados are full of potassium, which have been shown to lower blood pressure.

Arthritis – Avocados are rich in Polyhydroxylated Fatty Alcohols (PFA’s), a natural anti-inflammatory that prevents arthritis and osteoarthritis.

Weight loss – Avocados can help control your blood sugar levels as they contain a sugar called mannoheptulose that inhibits the synthesis of insulin. Controlling insulin levels helps control appetite and energy levels.

Brain health – Avocados are packed full of Omega 3 fatty acids that have been shown to improve brain function.  They have also been cited by top psychiatrist that they can help prevent Alzheimer’s disease.

Digestive health – Avocados aid digestive health in three ways; they are packed full of Vitamin B that helps digestion, they help the mucus lining in the gastrointestinal tract.  Avocados also release digestive enzymes which are necessary for digestion.

Eye health – Avocados are full of Vitamin E and lutien which are known to protect the eye against Retinopathy.

Avocados are an extremely versatile food and can be used in many ways, from the very common guacamole, to avocado humus, or even used in chocolate avocado mousse.  Here are my 3 personal favoutrite ways of eating them;

• Cutting them in half and scooping straight out of the skin. 

• Slicing them up and adding them to a spinach salad with some grilled salmon on top.  

• Spreading a ripe avocado on some buttered spelt toast with a poached egg on top.

Here are some more links of avocado recipes to help you keep your food choices fresh and fun;

http://shine.yahoo.com/everyday-food/7-ways-eat-avocados-154200374.html

http://camillestyles.com/food-2/10-best-avocado-recipe/?slide=1

http://gourmandelle.com/savory-healthy-avocado-recipes/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/realguacamole_81424

http://www.theearthdiet.org/2/post/2012/11/raw-chocolate-avocado-mousse.html

So, join me this December and look after your health by eating an Avocado everyday.  Watch out for my Facebook posts of new recipes and updates of my progress.  It would be great to hear how you are getting on too.  Post updates on my HutchisonPT Facebook page;

 https://www.facebook.com/pages/HutchisonPT/192506640807450

Stay healthy!

How much carbohydrate should I be eating?

Thanks to over 30 years of institutionally bad advice on the recommended amounts of carbohydrate (CHO), the western world is currently suffering from an epidemic of obesity and related metabolic disease, such as Type 2 diabetes.  For example, the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) “healthy” food pyramid recommends up to 65% of your diet to be made up of CHO foods including vegetables, fruits, grains, cereal, rice, pasta etc. 

This advice is obviously flawed as there are currently 154.7 million overweight or obese adults in the United States, equating to approximately 35% of the population, this has risen from 13.2% of the population in 1962. The UK isn’t any different, NHS statistics from 2011 show 25% of adults are obese and only 37% have a healthy BMI (height:weight calculation).

What is the link between CHO advice and obesity?  This is a question that many will ask as factors such as change in working culture (less manual labour) and technology have rapidly decreased the activity levels of the nation.  Not forgetting that food technology and media advertising have increased the amount of processed foods consumed.  But they cannot take all of the blame, especially as so many people are “dieting” and going to the gym to increase their activity levels and still struggling to maintain a healthy weight.  

Believe me when I say;

CHO = sugar. 

Excess sugar = stored fat. 

Excess stored fat = weight problems!

So, how much should I be consuming? 

Well, according to Mark Sisson, author of Primal Blueprint, it depends on what you are trying to achieve.

0-50g per day = Ketosis and accelerated fat burning.

Acceptable for occasional one to two day intermittent fasting efforts towards aggressive weight loss, provided adequate protein, fat and supplements are consumed.  Not recommended as long term strategy as it depletes the body of essential nutrient high fruits and vegetables.

50-100g per day = sweet spot for effortless weight loss

Minimises insulin production and accelerates fat metabolism.  Alongside meeting average daily protein requirements (meat, fish, poultry), eating nutritious vegetables, (some) fruits, nuts, seeds and eggs, you can lose 1-2 lbs of body fat per week.

100-150g per day = maintenance range

Allows for genetically optimal fat burning, muscle development and effortless weight maintenance. Dietary emphasis is on vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds and animal foods, with grains and processed sugars eliminated.

150-300g per day = Steady, insidious weight gain

This level of CHO is the level that many institutionally funded bodies (USDA, NHS etc) and many commercial “diet” companies recommend.  This continuous insulin stimulating pattern of eating provides perfect conditions for weight gain and the associated health conditions.  Chronic exercise and crash dieting may keep weight down for a period of time, but inevitably metabolic syndrome (inability to control blood sugar levels) will develop and fat levels will rise.  This even happens to seemingly cautious eaters, but a few lbs will be gained every year leading to long term problems.

300g or more = DANGER ZONE

Sweet foods such as confectionary, pastries, sugary hot drinks, fizzy drinks, cakes, excess alcohol etc, which are consumed frequently by many mean that this level is easily exceeded without even feeling full.  It will lead to metabolic syndrome, certain weight gain and a shortened life span.

Common CHO foods and their approximate values;

70g cooked pasta = 51g CHO

1 large baked potato = 50g CHO

1 large baked sweet potato = 35.4g CHO

50 g raw porridge oats = 31g CHO

2 slices of wholemeal bread = 30g CHO

1 small banana = 23g CHO

1 medium apple = 23g CHO

70g cooked quinoa = 15g CHO

70g Cooked brown rice = 15g CHO

100g blueberries = 6.9g CHO

100 g bag of mixed green leaf salad = 2.5g

Sweet treats:     1 blueberry muffin = 46.7g, 1 Mars bar = 40g CHO, 42g Granola Bar = 29g CHO

As you can see by this chart, it doesn’t really take much to end up eating excess CHO in your diet.  So it is vital that you monitor what foods you are consuming, weigh your CHO foods before cooking them and make sure you are eating the optimal amount for your circumstances.

Stay healthy!!

For more information about how to plan a healthy diet or exercise plan, contact me on james@hutchisonpt.co.uk, or find me and my colleagues at All About You Fitness Studio's in Highgate Village, London. 

How to eat well on a budget

The old adage, “I’m so hungry I could eat a horse,” has become a sad reality for many Brits recently and we are currently experiencing the fallout of the so called “Horsemeat” scandal.  For many health and fitness professionals like myself it has been an extremely interesting news story, one which both disgusts me but also allows me to feel slightly vindicated as I openly speak out against processed food on a daily basis to my clients.  The fact the food industry has been caught red handed in lying to consumers over the content of its products is no surprise to me and my colleagues, but it gives me the perfect opportunity to present a positive counter argument to something that I hear time and time again; “I can’t afford to eat good food”.

First of all I want to set out my stall; I am not naive in thinking that in today’s financial climate has not affected many individuals and families on low incomes, and I am certainly not arrogant in thinking I can give parenting advice.   I do know if many of us change the way we think about food we can improve our diets (and those of our families) and do this on a budget that suits your circumstances.

The recent news scandal has highlighted that processed food cannot be trusted;  in fact I was told by reliable source that someone is needed to literally count the animals going in and out of these meat processing plants due to the corrupt nature of the business.   For those who do not know, processed food is food that has been pre-prepared and will have instructions to either be re-heated or to be cooked from frozen.  Apart from the ambiguous meat sources, these food types are also packed with sugar, salt, artificial flavouring, fillers and sweeteners. As a general rule of thumb, if the ingredients list is longer than a few items avoid it.

Buying what we in the industry called “whole foods” and cooking from scratch is the ideal solution to make sure that you are getting good quality, healthy and nutritious meals on a regular basis.  This is usually where the phrases “organic” and “free range” pop up and on the whole I would recommend buying as much of these products as you can, but first of all; What are they and what do the terms mean?

Organic Food

According to the soil association organic food is, “... food which is produced using environmentally and animal friendly farming methods on organic farms.”  The problem with a definition like this is it is still quite ambiguous in its meaning, especially as different countries have different organic regulation.  But to put it in lay terms, Organic food will not be grown using industrial chemicals to aid the growing process, it will not be genetically modified and organic meats/poultry will not be fed with non-organic animal feed. 

Free Range

Free range food doesn’t mean Organic, what it means is that the animal in question would have been living in conditions that allow it to roam around and forage for food naturally.  In the case of chickens for example; this means they will not be kept it battery farm conditions (artificial light, nowhere to move or flap their wings).  Why is this important? If an animal cannot move around its muscles and connective tissue cannot develop correctly, which means a terrible quality of animal is produced.  The food industry has tried to get around this by using hormones to help their animals grow and by injecting water into meat to make it look more succulent, but this is purely for aesthetics to help them sell a bad product with low nutritional value.  So just think, if your diet is mainly made up of this poor quality produce, then how are you supposed to get energy and essential nutrients from it?

Below I have put together a list of common ingredients, different levels of quality and their prices.  It makes worrying reading.  The Organic Supermarket produce is over 300% more expensive than the Supermarket Value brands, which is terrible as it does price out a lot of hard working families.  But the mid range brand, which includes free range eggs, chicken and organic milk is not that different to the value brands, so is definitely affordable, especially if unnecessary products such as sweets, crisps, biscuits, cakes, alcohol and frozen food are taken off the shopping list.

Table of common Ingredients

	Supermarket Value Brand	Mid Range Brand	Organic Supermarket
Wholemeal loaf of bread (800g)	£0.90	£1.50	£3.78
Dozen Eggs	£2.18	£2.65 (free range)	£4.38
4 Pints of Milk	£1.29	£1.79 (organic)	£4.30
Whole Chicken	£4.00	£5.50 (free range)	£17.32*
Total	£8.37	£11.44	£29.78

* Available for delivery in London only, which has affected the price on this delivery service

My advice for people who wish to improve the ingredients quality of their shopping list, but cannot afford to buy at organic supermarkets (that’s most of us) is to make up your shopping list with a mix of ingredients from your supermarket (look for the better quality produce such as free range and organic), local green grocers and when possible your local butcher.  If you are unable to buy organic vegetables the make sure your scrub them well before cooking, a tip would be to use apple cider vinegar to scrub them before rinsing in cold water (this removes any pesticides).

Another piece of essential advice is to change the way we look at our diets.  Why do we need to eat animal produce every day?  You can get essential protein from combining cheaper vegetable protein sources; for example a homemade daal (lentil curry) with brown rice and vegetables can provide all of the essential amino acids to make a wholesome protein rich, vitamin rich and energy rich meal that can feed a family at a fraction of the price of a meat based meal.

If you do want to use meats and fish then look at traditional working class dishes from home and abroad to make your meals go further; Stews, curry, paella, tagine, Bolognese, stir fry’s etc. All these dishes use whole food ingredients with some meat, but can be made in bulk portions to feed a family on a budget or to feed an individual for multiple days.

To sum up, it is not impossible to eat well whatever budget you are on, just make sure you shop smart and buy your ingredients whole.  It’s really easy to blame others for the state of your health, but taking some responsibility and cooking more will not only improve your health but the quality of your life and those around you.

Stay healthy!

For more information and recipe ideas email James directly to arrange a consultation james@hutchisonpt.co.uk