Finding your authentic self - the first step towards complete health and well being

Your Life: Rediscovering your authentic self
Angelina has it, as does Brad but Jennifer Aniston never did. Anna Wintour oozes it, as does Michelle Obama. Hugh Jackman embodies it as does Seal and Heidi Klum – authenticity.
Authenticity is one of my most favourite words – the ability to truly reflect ones self; to break free from the roles created for us and stay concrete and honest no matter what the situation or relationship we find ourselves in. Few individuals master their own authentic soul - the very nature of modern life and our relationships seeing us mould and manipulate our authentic selves into the person we hope to be, or doing what others want us to rather than embracing what is true and real for us as an individual.

Our emotions as well as the body are both exceptionally good at telling us when we are on track with our authentic selves. Frustration, irritability, uneasiness and seemingly relentless sadness no matter what your job or paycheck are all powerful emotional indictors that things are not as they need to be in your world in order for you to be at your best. While the physical signs of poor sleep, weight issues, regular sickness and injury often more signs that all is not well with self.

The first step in rediscovering your authentic self is to consider at which point in your life you lost it. Was it when you married or had children; did you never truly embrace who you were after coming from an intense family or was it simply because you lost your way after entering your adult life with little path or direction, or without the confidence to aggressively pursue what it was you knew would make you happy?

One of the key characteristics of authentic people is that they always put their own needs before those of others. Not in a selfish uncaring way, but they know that without love for self, they cannot love others truly, madly, deeply.

Identifying their own core needs and practicing self care and love on a daily basis is central in the lives of authentic souls. So this week I ask you – what it is it that you know both your mind and body need to truly nurture your soul? Is it simply time to be, good food, exercise, time with your passions or time to identify them? Embracing your own authentic self is the first step in building the life that you want and ultimately the one you deserve.

Please don't pretend that you are doing us any favours

Food industry and large companies have much control over what we eat. They control what we can buy, what price products are sold at, where they put products on the shelves and in an increasing number of instances, they are encouraging us to eat more and more. Consider for a moment the last time that you went to the petrol station - did someone offer you a discount if you spent some extra cash in there? Or did they offer you 2 for 1 chocolate bars? Did the fast food chain offer an upgrade? Or did you get a better deal at the supermarket if you purchased more? Other examples of this push for consumers to consume more and more include larger companies advertising the unhealthiest burger and breakfast cereal options the most; or heavily discounting the cheaper, poorer quality food items rather than the healthiest before claiming to be holier than thou simply because they offer them on the menu.

All of these are examples of ways in which major companies who claim to be helping Australians eat better with health initiatives are actually making a complete joke of us and laughing all the way to the shareholders meeting. Instead of claiming to market responsibly perhaps it is time to actually do it? So next time the service attendant at the Coles servo offers you 2 for 1 chocolate bars, the McDonalds or Events cinema attendant offers an upgrade perhaps we need to start telling them to stick it.

How to not get fat this Christmas

The time has arrived when we need to be really mindful of our food choices to avoid an extra 5+ kilograms to kick off 2010. Here are the must follows tips for success;
1) Do not skip your training sessions, no matter what. Being “too busy” is a poor excuse
2) Eat a snack an hour before you go to a party
3) Drink vodka, lime and soda
4) Avoid all pastry until Christmas Day
5) If you do overindulge, choose salad or soup for your next meal
6) Snack on Summer fruit
7) Don’t keep extra lollies or chocolates at home
8) Give away as much leftover food as you can
9) Don’t waste your calories on poor quality chocolates, nibbles and pastry
10) Avoid all dips and chips

Giving them the attention they do not deserve

Over the past week there has been much media interest about a new mega burger released by one of the major fast food chains; a burger which contains over 5000mg of sodium (2 1/2 x the recommended daily amount) as well as 26g of saturated fat. The very fact that the major fast food chains are still developing these mega fat and calorie options is evidence enough to show that despite much talk of producing "healthier" options, at the end of the day, their interest is in money making and making high fat products, not improving the health of the country in any way.

The irony is that as the media and health professionals express their fury at such food items, the fast food chains are getting exactly the attention they had hoped for - free advertising. Enough said.......

The big food masquerade

For me, honesty is one of the most important character traits one can have and hence when food companies market certain varieties of food as healthy options, when there is much evidence to suggest otherwise, it frustrates me immensely. Here are the top food masqueraders, quite a few of which are regularly marketed as “healthy options”.
1)Arnott’s Shapes – no biscuit made using palm oil is ever going to be healthy
2)Kellogg Nutra Grain – breakfast cereal should contain fibre, not iron or protein; we get those nutrients from meat
3)Dried fruit – doubles the sugar of regular fruit
4)Cordial – still just sugar and water
5)Fruche – not a true yoghurt
6)Frozen yoghurt - more sugar and less protein than regular yoghurt
7)Rice crackers – at least choose wholegrain if you must have them
8)All Natural Confectionery – lollies are lollies
9)Chicken nuggets – anything crumbed and fried is never going to be good for you or your kids
10)Cadbury Brunch Bars – just another muesli bar even thought they look healthy

The bread uproar - is white really that bad?

For such a simple story, even I was surprised how much interest the recent bread story generated. I guess I just assumed that most people knew that Turkish bread really isn't that good for you! In case you missed it, here is the Updates information that generated the media frenzy last week:

I know that the labels on the packet say that it is low GI and high in fibre but processing a food and then putting all the good stuff back in is never going to make it as good nutritionally as the unprocessed variety. Grains consumed whole, in their natural state contain a wide range of nutrients including Vitamin E, zinc and long chain fats which will always make them nutritionally superior than processed grains. In fact, as a dietitian I look at white bread and think that you may as well choose confectionery for the metabolic impact the food has on our body long term. Here are the commonly eaten white bread varieties and their relative carbohydrate and fibre contents for you to consider;
Bread Type Cal Carbs Fibre
Plain white 146 28.2 1.8
Wonder White 157 26.7 4.2
Helga’s 208 36.6 2.4
Lawson’s 302 53.0 3.4
Turkish 560 110.0 5.5
Sourdough 526 99.6 5.8
Mountain 144 27.5 2.1

Act like a woman, eat like a man

One of the most common food habits that brings a diet undone is the tendency to over do things at social gatherings. Potato chips, pesto dips, cheese and other nibbles contain plenty of calories and are exceptionally easy to overeat. An observation I have made is that men treat these foods very differently than women do. Men rarely plan their social engagements around their food choices, nor do they crowd around the kitchen stuffing their faces with non filling, high fat foods. On the other hand, women can spend hours planning the menu, preparing the food and making a distinct effort to make sure that they get to eat some of the delicious treats they have prepared!

Over the next few weeks as the end of year party season kicks off, practice being exceptionally mindful when it comes to party food behaviours. Try and avoid the same high calorie nibbles that you have eaten a million times before by having a filling snack before you go and if you must indulge, determine how many snacks you will have before you begin eating. Stand away from the food, preferably with skinny people who seem to not eat much and pay particular attention to how much better you feel the next day when you have not subjected yourself to a complete calorie blow out. And if that is not convincing enough, here are your favourite pre-dinner snacks and the calories you will ingest if you eat them.

10 rice crackers + chunky pesto and cashew dip = 2000kJ
5 Jatz and Mersey Valley Cheese = 1100kJ
Large Bag Red Rock Deli Chips = 3500kJ
Large bag of Grain Waves = 3400kJ
½ Brie and 6 water crackers = 1700kJ
30 peanuts = 700kJ