I have a question. What’s up with the health star rating system? Does it make sense to you? As a nutritionist, a find it curious, but what are your thoughts on it?
Over the next few weeks, I’m going to be looking further into it, showing you foods and asking your opinion on how many stars you think these foods should have, and playing a guessing game later on.
Let’s start with these two descriptions on two common foods. I’m calling one (A) and the other (B) How many stars would you give these two descriptions based on your opinion?

A) This is a whole food (which means it hasn’t been processed or changed much from its point of harvest), it is high in protein, which gives you energy, better muscle mass and keeps you full longer. It contains good fats for brain function, weight loss and to lower cholesterol, it is high in fibre for gut health, it has vitamin E for heart health, skin healing and anti-aging, it contains calcium, magnesium, manganese, zinc and Vitamin K (Yes, there is such a thing) for bone health, it is also organic- so contains no pesticides in it. It can regulate your blood sugar levels. Multiple scientific studies have linked eating this food to lower cancer rates, lower heart disease, lower cholesterol, lower weight, more stable blood sugars, to name a few.
B) This is a processed whole wheat product. It contains wheat, which has been processed. It is therefore high in carbohydrates which is good for quick energy. It is not organic (although there is an organic version I would recommend), it may contain traces of pesticides and chemical residue. It has added sugar, added salt, barley malt extract, and added in is niacin, thiamine, riboflavin, folate and iron, which are good for energy and nervous system function. Certain studies (many carried out by the company making this food), have found this food to be beneficial to certain people who require high, quick access energy. I would agree with this also.

What would you give (A) and (B) a health star rating out of 5, based on what you know about food?

Image from Unsplash

Body Scan for relaxation
Step 1:

Lie somewhere comfortable, with a pillow under knee’s to support back. Take a deep breath in and out and say ‘relax’. Starting concentration at the toes, imagine every muscle relaxing and going floppy up to the tip of the head. Once you have done this, lie there and feel how nice this feeling of relaxation is, and loosen further any places that hold tension. Enjoy this feeling.

Step 2:

Once you have scanned your body for any further tension, and relaxed it, you may now hold an image or symbol in your mind. It may be a flower, a tree, the sun, the Christian cross, an Om, anything that has a positive impact on you.
Hold this image in your mind for as long as possible (5-10 minutes). It is natural for your mind to wander, just keep gently bringing it back to the symbol. Practice of this exercise makes it easier and more relaxing each time.
It is said, that 20 minutes of meditation- such as this, is equal to 6-8 hours of sleep.

The Complete Diet in Paradise’ is Honor’s latest wellness and recipe book and is a companion to her great seller; ‘A Diet in Paradise’, which focussed on the science of understanding illness and health, chronic inflammation and gut bacteria. With beautiful images of The Fraser Coast in Australia as well as being packed full of quick, easy, tasty recipes.

This latest book; ‘The Complete Diet in Paradise’ is set in Noosa and the Sunny Coast of Queensland and explores the deeper layers to health; the mind, the thoughts, the affirmations of a person and how these influence health or disease.
It’s a book that explores joy, wonder and the benefits of engaging in awe.
With interviews from NASA scientists, local and international physicians, celebrity chefs, successful entrepreneurs and hidden spiritual masters; Honor ask them each to share a way we could view the world and ourselves from a new and dynamic perspective in order to encourage our greatest health.

Packed full of immune boosting and inflammation lowering recipes, this book is a visual look into extremes to find the healthy balance in the middle

Paleo with Pete Evans Part 1 and 2
By Nutritionist Journalist Honor Tremain

This week I had a chance to interview celebrity chef and paleo enthusiast Pete Evans on his life, his first introduction to paleo, his favourite meals and recipes and what’s new for him.

1 ) When did you first become interested in food?
P) I started my cooking career at the age of 13 working in a friend’s bakery and pie shop and I’ve been cooking ever since.
2 ) What led you to the Paleo diet and how have you found it’s most positively shaped your life?
P) My wife Nicola discovered Nora Gedgaudas book “Primal body, Primal mind”, and we both decided to implement the simple and common sense approaches which were absolutely delicious and our health on all levels improved dramatically. I have more energy and clarity now than I’ve ever had!
3 ) Were you ever sick or unwell before the transition to Paleo?
P) I have had digestive and sinus issues all my life and adopting the simple paleo principles of eating loads of vegetables, small amounts of well sourced seafood or meat, good (non dairy) fats as well as having broths and fermented veggies.
It has been the best decision for my family and I when it comes to health.
4 ) What is the biggest thing you have learnt by going Paleo?
P) That the majority of the population puts items into their shopping trolleys that no longer looks like food to me. The health of the population can easily be understood by observing what people eat on a daily basis.
5 ) Would you tell us what your favorite meal is?
P) My favourite meal is the one myself or my wife is cooking next….

Part 2: I sat down with celebrity chef Pete Evans who took me through a normal daily diet for him and explained the real paleo way. This is part 2 of our interview.

1 Would you tell us what you eat and drink in a normal day?
P) It depends but I usually eat one or two meals a day, or I’ll fast for a day.
A normal meal would consist of a small amount of well sourced animal protein from land or sea and then the plate, bowl or pot is filled to the brim with fresh vegetables or salads with some good (non dairy) fats on the plate, a side of fermented vegetables and a daily broth or set bone broth jelly and that is it. If it is two meals then it will be the same!

2 While I love the whole food focus that the paleo diet has brought to light, what are your thoughts on the high animal product ingestion and the science emerging suggesting that it increases inflammatory molecules, accelerated ageing and disease?
P) I promote small amounts of animal protein not large amounts, which I think is where some of the confusion around Paleo has come from. We are big on where the meat has come from and chose well-sourced animals that have had a natural diet and raised ethically by caring farmers or caught by fisher people.
We also advocate nose to tail, which is the most sustainable way forward.

3 What do you find fun or enlivening about your work or life?
P) Sharing the never ending success stories of people that have gone paleo and are getting off medications, healing their health issues and living the lives they have always dreamt of living.
So many vegetarians and vegans, as well as people eating a SAD (standard Aussie diet) have decided to adopt paleo principles and share their stories with me of how easy and how much common sense it makes to eat this way.
This is the most rewarding part of my work!

4 What new projects, books, talks, and work do you have coming up that you would like to share?
P) Our latest book on gut health has just been released with the amazing Helen Padarin and we are doing an event in Sydney and Melbourne in January next year which will be life changing for people.
Remember once you heal your gut then the magic can start!
Cook with Love and Laughter

Find Pete and more on Paleo at www.thepaleoway.com and find the complete interview with Pete on my website www.honortremain.com.au

Did you know this is a real image taken by hubble telescope? It’s part of the Eagle nebular and it’s light years in length! We came from collections of dust just like this.

We all know that our bodies slowly change throughout life, but we also typically see ourselves as permanent, stable beings who live, eat and inhale air. We overlook the powers beyond that, where everything is in a perpetual state of flux within us and the universe.
This week we continue on with my interviews with US based authors of ‘Living With the Stars’, Physician Iris Schrijver and Astrophysicist Karel Schrijver.
“Our bodies are in a constant state of decay and regeneration. We exchange the materials of which we are composed with what we consume from the world around us to survive.” says Iris. “Stardust from the universe continually flows through us, rebuilding our bodies over and over again. The only lasting parts of us are in fact parts of our teeth that are not actually alive. Everything else is replaced!”
“Very little of our bodies lasts for more than a few years. This is just one illustration of how everything is impermanent. It is that transience of the body, and the flow of energy and matter needed to counter it, that led us to explore the interconnectedness of the universe with the body, where impermanence is observed in both fields. Even planets and stars come and go, “live” and “die” and therefore have an age range too”, says Karel of why they wrote the book.
We are usually all so focused on ourselves and on our immediate experience that we rarely stop to think about all the ecology, cycles, and networks (of living and lifeless matter) that surround us and without which we would not survive.
We are truly and fully connected to the universe and it seems foolish to ignore that.
Find their book: ‘Living With The Stars’ online on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Living-Stars-Connected-Cycles-Planets/dp/0198727437

Understanding GMO, Part 2:

Last week we looked at some basics when it comes to genetically modified products and what foods and crops are GMO’d the most. This is a continuation.

The two most common forms of genetic engineering are:
-To make an organism insect resistant,
-To make an organism herbicide tolerant. Meaning, you can spray the plant with pesticides to kill the pests, but the plant will withstand the poison.

The other type of genetic engineering, which is concerning many doctors and health professionals is the Antibiotic resistance Marker Genes (ARG or ARM) range of GMO, which has inbuilt bacterial resistance.
There are two sides to GMO too, those for and those against.
“Gene technology provides the opportunity to improve human and animal health, create a safer and more sustainable food supply, and generate prosperity for Australia.” CSIRO
They say that genetically modified crops, altered for insect resistance or herbicide tolerance allows the farmers to use less chemicals and pesticides on their farms.
Meaning fewer chemicals in the environment, and less harm to the friendly insects.

I interviewed a US based expert in GMO and asked him his thoughts.
He’s a best selling author, award-winning filmmaker and executive director of the Institute of Responsible Technology (IRT) Jeffery Smith, who is a strong advocate for eating healthy non-GMO foods and products, and who regularly appears on radio and television shows, such as the Dr.Oz show, Fox News and CNBC.

When I asked him what the known and theorized health impacts of GMO foods were at this point, he answered:

“The current generation of genetically engineered foods is fraught with unpredicted side effects. The process of gene insertion, whether done by gene gun or bacterial infection, followed by cloning of the cell into a plant, causes between 2 to 4% of the DNA to be different compared to the non-GMO parent.

Next week, I’ll share with you the full interview with Jeffery Smith.

Diet, Exercise, Sleep and Stress: What Effects Weight More?

How many of us consistently eat poorly and try and run it off the following week; or binge eat junk food late one night and hit the gym hard the next day in a desperate attempt to burn it all off?
Only all of us!

But what if we are going about things all wrong? Deakin University, and many others are starting to explore the fact that diet has a higher role to play in weight gain and loss, than purely exercise alone.

Although exercise does help on many levels of health and fitness, think about it this way, one 100g chocolate bar or fast food item containing around 2200kj, can be eaten in under a minute, which could fuel a normal sedentary office worker or house bound person for around five hours, and would also take a 90-minute walk or 7km run to burn off!

Now if we look at other factors: many studies have found increases in stress contribute to weight gain too, and the same is true for sleep-deprived individuals.
People who do not have enough quality sleep tend to eat more processed and sugary foods, searching for that missing energy kick. While their metabolism and hormones are also changed from the lack of sleep, which, in turn, additionally effects their weight through inflammatory pathways.

So it seems, when talking about weight loss, long-term success is achieved by sticking to a combination of factors:

-Eat more wholefoods= foods which haven’t been changed or processed in any way.
-Eat more fresh vegetables.
-Decrease sweets and fast foods.
-Decrease portion size.
-Increase regular, moderate exercise.
-Decrease stress.
-Increase good quality sleep.

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