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Cheap tricks

June 7th 2009 03:22
1. Shop later in the evening
Later in the evening is when the supermarkets mark down anything, such as bread, yoghurt, and fruit , that must be sold straight away. The only problem with this is that many of the cheaper items are due to expire the next day, so check the expiry date before buying, and make sure that you will actually use it, don’t just buy something because it is cheap.

2. Plan ahead
Make a weekly menu. Plan what meals you will having in a week and base your shopping around that. Otherwise, you’ll buy on impulse, which ends up being more expensive.

3. Make your own

Make your own dressings, cereals, muffins, and scones. If you have more time on your hands, give jam, preserve and bread making a go. Search recipes for jams and preserves on the internet or grab a copy of the Edmonds Cook Book.

4. Use your freezer
Double or even triple dinner recipes. Freeze the remains and heat up as needed. This way you save time and money.

5. Make it last
Make your food go a little further by following these tips. You can make butter go further (and reduce it’s fat content) by beating a soften stick of butter and half a cup of lukewarm water until water is incorporated into the butter. To make your milk stretch use powdered milk for cooking instead of fresh milk - its way cheaper to buy it in powder form. Make your cheese go further by grating it – you will use less. When making cheese sauce, use a bit of powdered chicken or vegetable soup or stock to add flavour so you don’t need to use as much cheese.

Make meat go further by cooking stews and stirfries. Stews are particularly good if the you use lower quality, cheaper cuts of meat because stewing meat makes it tastier and more tender. You could also stretch out meat meals by adding legumes like red lentils or chick peas to the mix. Legumes are good source of iron and protein. Save even more money by having a couple of vegetarian meals during the week.


Plan your meals around your vegetables. If you have lettuce, use it first because it deteriorates a lot quicker than other veggies. You can make broccoli last longer by chopping off the end of the stem and placing in water.

6. Try out some new cheap recipes
Have a look at Really Long Link they have plenty of budget friendly recipes.

7. Make the most of leftovers

Use your leftover cooked vegetables and stale bread to make veggie burger patties. Crumb bread and mash together with veggies like potato, carrots and broccoli with some onion, garlic, spices and herbs. Pan-fry. Put burger on a bun with lettuce, cheese and sauce.
Make a left over pizza. Place leftover vegetables, meat and sauce on a pizza base or pita bread and heat in the oven.
Blend together old (but not off) fruit for an interesting new fruit drink or make them into ice blocks.
Make a frittata. Place leftover meat or vegetables in a bowl and mix in a bit of milk and some eggs and then bake.
Save all your left over vegetables and make them into soup when you have enough saved up.

8. Use spray oil
Use spray on oil rather than oil in a regular bottle. You will use less oil and save money.
If you have any questions, then please send me an email to nutrition.advice@gmail.com, or leave your questions here.

Krissi
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Feeling fatigued?

May 23rd 2009 02:17
Feeling tired? Sleep at least 8 hours a night and still feel tired? It could be your diet.

Iron – this is an obvious one. Whenever I say I feel tired they ask me if I have been getting enough iron, which is a pretty valid thing to point out because if your body doesn’t get enough of iron you will feel tired. But it is not the only thing to make you feel tired. The only way to know for sure to check what you’re lacking is to have a blood test done. So if your iron is low, next you need to find out why and if your doc is good, then they can tell you.

It could be a number of reasons. You might be consuming enough iron, but your body may not absorbing properly – this could because other nutrients/chemicals (e.g. phytates which are found in bran and polyphenols which are found in coffee and tea) in foods are blocking absorption or the gut wall isn’t doing its job. You may also have increased iron losses due to menstrual bleeding and bleeding from the digestive system.

These problems may need to be treated with medically rather than increasing iron intake. If there’s nothing wrong, you need to do is consume more iron (for example, meat, fish, seafood, breakfast cereals, beans, lentils and chicken) and vitamin C (for example, citrus fruits, potatoes, broccoli and kiwi fruit) especially if you’re eating non meat sources of iron.

Vitamin B1 (thiamine) – this is a vitamin that the body uses to help it extract energy from the food and drink you consume. Again you should get checked out by your doctor to see whether low thiamine is a problem and to check out why it is low. If your intake of thiamine is out of whack, eat a little more of the following foods thiamine rich foods such as meat, liver, fish, eggs, whole grains, leafy green vegetables, and legumes. If it’s anything else your doctor should be able to help.

Iodine – the body needs iodine to make thyroid hormones. These help control energy metabolism. If you don’t get enough iodine you may feel tired, and sluggish. Boost your iodine levels by using iodised salt (but don’t use too much) and eat/drink low fat milk products, sea food, eggs, fish, and seaweed.

Biotin - this water soluble vitamin acts as a coenzyme and it helps the body extract energy from amino acids (protein building blocks). If you don’t get enough, you may end up feeling tired, so make sure eat plenty of food rich in biotin. Good sources of biotin include: liver, egg yolk, legumes and nuts.

Lack of food – food provides you with energy to function, just like a petrol is used to keep a car running. If you’re not eating enough for your bod’s energy requirements then chances are you will feel like you’ve been run over by a truck.

If you have any questions, then please send me email or leave your question on my website www.nutrionmad.com.
Krissi
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Food and exercise

May 23rd 2009 02:15
What is an appropriate thing to eat after working out?
Depends on the intensity and length of your workouts. A long work out, say more than an hour you should eat something that contains a little bit of everything, that is protein, carbohydrates, fluids and sodium. A balanced meal of vegetables, potatoes/rice/pasta with meat or legumes and a glass or two of water should be enough to recover any nutrients and water lost during exercise. If you don’t feel like eating much you could have a sport drink. After shorter work outs, you can get away with just having a banana, wholegrain toast with honey, or a yoghurt.

What should I eat and drink while participating in an endurance event?
Something that keeps you hydrated and releases glucose quickly. Sports drink, jelly beans, sports bar, banana, sports gel, honey sandwich, carboshot, and water.
What should I eat before participating big sports event?
Something that is energy and nutrient rich, low in fat and fibre with moderate levels of protein with something to drink. Something that releases glucose slowly so that the body can use it during the event. For example a fruit smoothie made with yoghurt , with whole grain toast with honey, or porridge, breakfast cereal with low fat milk and fruit, jacket potato with creamed corn, creamed rice with fruit, or baked beans on toast.

Is there anything I should avoid after a hard work out or endurance event?
Yes, alcohol. After an endurance event you may be dehydrated and your muscles will be running low on glycogen which is a bunch of glucose molecules all stuck together. Glycogen is an important source of energy for your muscles. After an event you need to recover the glycogen that has been used up by eating carbohydrate rich foods. Alcohol slows down this process and it is recommended that do not drink alcohol after an event. If you do make sure you load up of carbohydrates. Alcohol is a diuretic, which means that causes your body to increase your water losses , which is no good if you are dehydrated.

How much protein should I eat? What are good sources of protein?
It really depends, on your gender and how active you are. 15-20% of your energy intake should come from protein; or around 0.8 to 1 gram per kilogram of body weight if you exercise regularly; 1.6 to 1.7 grams per kilogram of body weight if you do strength training at least two hours, five days per week ; or 1.2-1.4 grams per kilogram of body weight if you’re an endurance athlete (that is, if you train at least two hours per day, fives a week).
Good sources of protein include, nuts, lentils, eggs, fish, meat, chicken, baked beans, seeds, dairy, and soy.

If you have any questions then please email me at nutrition.advice@gmail.com or leave your query here.

Krissi
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Recipes for breakkie

April 14th 2009 07:36
This week I thought I would list a few breakfast recipes, rather than talk about micronutrients. I will get back to micronutrients later in the next issue of Chaff.


[ Click here to read more ]
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Chaff column

April 14th 2009 07:32
Question one: I was wondering about the calorie content of each packet of Splenda, which contains sucralose, dextrose and maltodextrin. The packet states no calories, but there is one carbohydrate and one gram of sugar, which translates as 4 calories per packet, is that correct?

Carbohydrates, including sugar, sucralose, dextrose and maltodextrin (these are types of sugars too) contain approximately 17 kilojoules of energy per gram or 4 calories of energy per gram. So yes, Splenda does give you energy


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Surviving vegetarianism: a guide meat eaters

Well I've really run out of things to talk about, so I'm just going to rant on about my favorite nutrition subject - vegetarianism. If you would like me to write about something else, than please feel free to flick me an email with some suggestions for my next column. Alternatively you could stop reading this column, but I would prefer that you continue reading it


[ Click here to read more ]
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Chickpea Vindaloo

February 28th 2009 07:28
Chickpea Vindaloo

This is a super quick and nutritious meal, which is a little on the spicy side, but if it's too hot just add a little more tomato puree


[ Click here to read more ]
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Coping with Vegetarianism

February 28th 2009 07:23
Eating out
Many places cater for vegetarians but they do vary on the options available to vegetarians. A bar, for example, isn't a good place to get a decent veggie meal. They tend to only have chips (which you will need to check to see what they are cooked in) and salads, which is just plain boring. I have noticed that Asian restaraunts are excellent at providing non meat eaters with variety. There's a place in good old Wellington called Aunty Mena's and it is completely vegetarian. Even if you don't feel like this type of meal, you can ask the waiter (nicely) to leave out the meat and have the chef cook up a veggie friendly alternative.

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Another Chaff column

February 21st 2009 22:16
This week I'm going to talk about reading nutritional information panels (NIP) because sometimes they're not particularly easy to understand. There are eight things I think you need to look at when reading the NIP - energy, fat, protein, fibre, carbohydrates, sodium, Heart Foundation Tick, and ingredients list.

Energy


[ Click here to read more ]
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Break

January 12th 2009 06:51
It's feel like forever since I have written on here. It's has been a week since my summer/Christmas break has ended and I'm settled into work. Lately I have been writing a few articles for www.nzgirl.co.nz. I have taken a break from Chaff and from writing speeches since Toastmasters and Chaff have been on a long break for summer. At the moment I have been looking for jobs
(here's my CV ) a job that's more in my field. At the moment, I'm a voluntary nutrition/health writer and a full time payroll officer, which is nice and keeps me busy, but I need something else. I have to run as it time for the gym!

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