Nutritional Blog

I never suggest people avoid any particular foods at Christmas, I simply suggest being aware of the foods you are eating and not to over indulge because its “Christmas time”. The average person gains >5lbs over the two weekChristmas Holiday period. A report published in the Irish Independent in Dec 2014 estimated that Irish people can consume an average of 6000Kcals on Christmas day and an excess of 17,500Kcals over the two weeks. Where are the extra calories coming from? I will go some way to explaining!

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Whelehans Nutrition Service

Whelehans nutritional service is a private one to one advice service with our nutritionist Aisling Murray. Aisling’s areas of interest include weight loss management, nutrition education and food intolerance. Our nutrition service offers you the chance to change your life in a positive way by focusing on your overall wellbeing as well as the chance to follow up on your progress.

Aisling Murray has a Bachelor of Science in Nutrition and offers a one to one specialist nutrition service at Whelehans Pharmacy. Call Whelehans at 04493 34591 for an appointment

Are processed meats carcinogenic? Part 2

Moderation is the key

On the 26^th of October 2015 the World Health Organisation (WHO) released a report on the cancer causing effects of processed meats and red meat. This is a continuation of last week’s article in the Westmeath Examiner on this topic. If you missed it you will find it on the Westmeath Examiner or Whelehans Pharmacy website.

 This article from the WHO is not a reason to boycott all processed meat and exclude red meat from the diet; moderation is the key. One slice of bacon or ham every now and again is not going to cause cancer, just like eating sweets in moderation will not cause severe tooth decay.

If you are consuming processed meat more than twice a week you may need to rethink your diet; most nutritionists would have stated that before the article from WHO was published. From the last census conducted in 2011, it was discovered that 8,871 individuals in Ireland died from Cancer.  Bowel cancer is the fifth most common cancer diagnosed (which was the type of cancer mentioned in the WHO study). This sends off alarm bells especially when 50% of cancers are avoidable; 30% of cancers are avoidable through lifestyle changes like quitting smoking, eating healthier and reducing stress.

Do I think processed meats are to blame for the incidences of cancer? The short answer is No. The prevalence of cancer has to do with a number of factors. In my experience dealing with clients, individuals who eat a lot of processed meat, tend to have unhealthy diets all around. 

Whelehans Nutrition Service

Whelehans nutritional service is a private one to one advice service with our nutritionist Aisling Murray. Aisling’s areas of interest include weight loss management, nutrition education and food intolerance. Our nutrition service offers you the chance to change your life in an affordable but positive way by focusing on your overall wellbeing as well as the chance to follow up on your progress.

Aisling Murray has a Bachelor of Science in Nutrition and offers a one to one specialist nutrition service at Whelehans Pharmacy. Call Whelehans at 04493 34591 for an appointment

Are processed meats carcinogenic?

Moderation is the key

On the 26^th of October 2015 the World Health Organisation (WHO) released a report on the cancer causing effects of processed meats and red meat. Over the next two weeks in the Examiner I will look at this report in a bit more detail. My main message is that “too much of anything is bad for us”. This is true for healthy foods as well as less healthy foods. Treating yourself to the odd rasher and sausage is no harm once it is not a regular part of your diet                                             

Examples of processed meat include sausages, rashers, hot dogs (frankfurters), ham, salami, corned beef, and canned meat. The methods and chemicals used to process the meat are thought to induce a carcinogenic effect in the human digestive system. It’s important to know that the meat itself is not carcinogenic; it’s the modification to increase its shelf-life or to improve its taste which can lead to cancer. WHO stated in the article that processed meats are the reason for the increase in bowel cancer throughout our society. The likes of non-processed foods like the red meat you get in your butcher is safer as it doesn’t have additives (but always remember to eat red meat in moderation).

I always recommend to my clients to eat processed and red meats in moderation; lean meat such as chicken, turkey and fish are more preferable in the diet and processed meats should be limited to once a week.

Whelehans Nutrition Service

Whelehans nutritional service is a private one to one advice service with our nutritionist Aisling Murray. Aisling’s areas of interest include weight loss management, nutrition education and food intolerance. Our nutrition service offers you the chance to change your life in an affordable but positive way by focusing on your overall wellbeing as well as the chance to follow up on your progress.

To be continued….next week

Aisling Murray has a Bachelor of Science in Nutrition and offers a one to one specialist nutrition service at Whelehans Pharmacy. Call Whelehans at 04493 34591 for an appointment

What does it mean to be overweight or obese?

To be overweight or obese means you have an abnormal or excessive fat accumulation in the body and this may impair health. To determine whether you are obese or overweight a simple index known as the body mass index (BMI) is calculated. BMI calculates your weight compared to your height; there are even online tools to calculate your BMI for you (simply input your weight and height).

BMI is beneficial for assessing a person’s risk of disease, such as heart disease and diabetes and can give an indication of how likely you are to develop these diseases.

Health risks of being overweight

There are a huge amount of negative health risks related to being overweight or obese. The more body fat you have the more likely you are to develop conditions such as:

• Type 2 diabetes
• Heart disease
• High blood pressure
• Stroke
• Cancers
• Gallbladder disease and gallstones

Whelehans Nutrition Service         

Whelehans nutritional service is a private one to one advice service with our nutritionist Aisling Murray. Aisling’s areas of interest include weight loss management, nutrition education and food intolerance. Our nutrition service offers you the chance to change your life in a positive way by focusing on your overall wellbeing as well as the chance to follow up on your progress.

Aisling Murray has a Bachelor of Science in Nutrition and offers a one to one specialist nutrition service at Whelehans Pharmacy. Call Whelehans at 04493 34591 for an appointment

Sweeteners

When sugar is removed from a food, an unintentional consequence is that the flavour is also removed and needs to be replaced, usually in the form of artificial sweeteners. Artificial sweeteners are synthetic, calorie free substitutes derived from naturally occurring substances such as herbs and even sugar itself.  In the case of aspartame and acesulfame k they are up to 200 times sweeter than table sugar. Most low calorie foods contain sweeteners. Sweeteners are great if you are trying to cut down on sugar but studies suggest that over consumption can be harmful to our health as they are said to be carcinogenic, affect pregnancy and cause tumours, however reliable studies have yet to be published regarding this.

Benefits to sweeteners

• They do not cause tooth decay or cavities.
• Can help with weight control as they have virtually no calories; due to their high sweetness level only a small quantity is needed.
• A good alternative for a person with diabetes as they do not raise blood sugar level like carbohydrates. It is still important to be careful what foods you eat containing sweeteners if you have diabetes as they can still be high in fats. (eg) foods labelled “low sugar” can be high in fats and vice versa

Negative side to artificial sweeteners

There is very little scientific evidence to indicate that sweeteners cause major adverse effects however.....

 In summary, artificial sweeteners cause no problems if consumed in moderation. It is only when over consumed that there may be issues

Aisling Murray has a Bachelor of Science in Nutrition and offers a one to one specialist nutrition service at Whelehans Pharmacy. Plans start from €10 per week. Call Whelehans at 04493 34591 for an appointment