Health4Tips: tips and tricks

Showing posts with label tips and tricks. Show all posts

Monday, October 20, 2014

Learning to love legumes - reblogging a great article by Sally Marchini

Well, seeing yesterday's post was about resistant starch and the gut microbiome, it's only fitting that today I want to share a post about one of the excellent natural sources of resistant starch- that would be legumes. Legumes are things like peas, beans and lentils and they are nutritional powerhouses with fantastic nutrient qualities, a great source of plant based protein, low GI carbohydrates and, you guessed it, resistant starch.

The blog I am sharing today is by my friend Sally Marchini - Accredited Practising Dietitian and the social media dietitian for Diabetes Counselling Online. Sally can be frequently found on social media and over at her own place, Marchini Nutrition, and she has a wonderful, practical and balanced approach to good healthy nutrition. Here's what Sally has to say about legumes (just click on the title below to go to the article)

Learning to love legumes

Her tips for using legumes in all sorts of ways are great and worth bookmarking for that day when you're all out of inspiration - I know I will.

Want to read more of Sally's great posts? A list of her blog posts can be found here - I recommend you have a look!
And don't forget to love your legumes!!

Lyndal @ Lean Green and Healthy

What does a balanced meal look like?

Privacy breakfast , dinner

I keep harping on about a balanced diet. Balanced this and balanced that. In my posts about breakfasts and even snacks, I keep referring to this. What do I mean?

I think its important to think about each meal as an opportunity to nourish yourself. To nourish your senses with wonderful colours and flavours, aromas and textures. And to nourish your body with an array of vitamins, minerals and other nutrients it needs. And finally you could also go as far as to say to nourish your soul with the pride of a home cooked meal, or the company of friends on a special occasion, or family around your regular dinner table or the quiet peace of contentedly eating by yourself.

Now not every single meal will do all of these things, but I believe its a great way to think about your food and how it nourishes you. But moving beyond these qualities of your meal, how much of everything do you include? Well this first post is about balance, then later we will talk about portion sizes.

Think about your plate like a clock face and divide it into quarters. Two of these quarters (half your plate) at every meal should be fruit or non starchy vegetables. One of the quarters should be lean protein, and one of your quarters should be starches - low GI carbohydrates. Add to this a small amount of healthy fats and oils and you have a balanced meal. This is how I try to plan every meal.

So what does this look like practically?

Well let's start with the easiest plate to imagine - dinner time. Here's a dinner photo I found off the internet:

This plate is about right with half the plate made up of salad, a quarter of lean protein (the lamb cutlets) and a quarter of low GI carbohydrates (the tasty looking wild rice mix). But most of us don't get this right at dinner - we tend to eat too much carbohydrates (how much pasta do you pile upon your plate? how many potatoes? what about bread?) and also too much meat - imagine how large a big steak would look on a plate like this. And rarely do we as a population eat HALF of our plate as fruit or vegetables. But these are the simple changes in proportions that will make all the difference when you're watching your weight or improving your health.

So that's some ideas for dinner, the easy one, but what about the other meals? You see EVERY meal should be in balance like this. Over 90% of Australians don't eat enough fruit and vegetables a day, and this is the case for most other Western countries. Do you eat fruit and vegetables with every meal?

Here's a breakfast plate to show you- its a photo I took when I was eating out for breakfast with my husband. Half the plate is vegetables (spinach, mushrooms and tomatoes) with lean protein (eggs), low GI carbohydrates (the beans) and some good fats (avocado). Granted it is quite a big breakfast, but it was also delicious!

Or if cooked breakfast isn't your thing, what about cereal? how much do you eat? Most processed cereals are very highly processed, high GI and loaded with sugar and fat and usually doesn't cover our other bases. Here's another balanced breakfast plate. Note that half the bowl is filled with fruit (in this case strawberries, blueberries and raspberries) and the other quarters (piled on top of each other) are the protein (Greek yoghurt) low GI carbs (muesli) and good fats (in the seeds and nuts). This is what I have for breakfast most days of the week.

Getting the picture?

Lets do one more. How about the lunch I had today. You should be getting good at this by now!! This is a bit trickier because its all piled in a heap, but can you pick out the different foods?

I started with the vegetables by piling the bowl full of spinach leaves and tomatoes. Then I added the low GI carbs (can you see the sneaky chick peas? there are about 3 tablespoons of chick peas in the salad). Next came the protein - a small can of tuna and some feta cheese. Finally I topped it with some good fats in the form of sunflower seeds, pepitas and avocado. Oh and the raisins on top are a little more fruit!

Now whether you are eating a salad bowl or breakfast like me, or a big grainy sandwich, or a baked dinner with all the trimmings, think about the balance on your plate. Half non-starchy veggies/fruits, quarter protein, quarter low GI carbs and some tasty healthy fats and you will be on the way to great balanced health. This is an easy change you can make right now :)

So, in summary!

1/2 Plate Vegetables
Fill up your plate with raw or cooked vegetables for nutrition, taste and healthy filling fibre. Remember to include many different colours and types for a full array of nutrients.

1/4 Plate Lean Protein
Lean protein will help you to stay satiated, sustain your energy throughout the day, and protect your heart and waistline. This can be lean meats, fish and also non meat sources of protein such as soy, nuts, tofu and others. Remember, twice as many vegetables as protein.

1/4 Plate Healthy low GI carbohydrates (or starches)
Whole grains, like brown rice, contain fibre to give you long-lasting energy, stabilise blood sugar and provide B-vitamins to protect your heart. Try quinoa, sweet potatoes, pumpkins and more! Legumes are excellent for this also. The more colourful your starch, the better!

We will talk soon about portion sizes. In the meantime if you want to know more about the foods we should be including daily, check out the Australian Healthy Eating Guide. And if you need more specific advice tailored to you, see a dietitian!

Bon appetit!

Related posts:
What to eat for a healthier you
To snack or not to snack, that is the question
The beauty of breakfast

Lyndal @ Lean Green and Healthy

Focus on the journey NOT the destination

Privacy motivation , tips and tricks

Every time I hear someone say - I have 20kg to lose, or I have 100 lbs to lose, it always worries me. How do you work on such a huge goal? How do you stay motivated for the months or years that that will take? And what happens if you lose only 18kg, or just 90lbs (both an amazing achievement)? Does that mean you failed? And how arbitrary is a goal weight for you anyway? We know statistically what BMI means for populations and that people within certain ranges are at decreased (or increased) risk of disease. But does that mean that YOU need to be a "certain weight" to be healthier than you are now? Possibly not.

Stop with the unachievable goals. If you really need a numerical goal then make it something you can achieve like 5kg or 5lbs and then readjust when you get there. But to be honest, your goal should be to make healthy changes in your life. Make your targets tangible. I will eat less fast food this week. I will drink more water tomorrow. I will walk 3-5 times a week. I will aim to go to bed earlier tonight. I will eat 5 serves of vegetables today. You can succeed at those things and you can succeed at them TODAY. And you know what? The evidence is clear that those changes WILL make you healthier and decrease your risk of disease. And you will probably lose weight in the process anyway, but you are much more likely to be happy and consider yourself a success, and that's important.

Focus on the journey, not the destination.

Lyndal @ Lean Green and Healthy

Relax - its Friday! (but don't relax too much!)

Privacy tips and tricks ,

Time to relax... its Friday!

I hope your weekend is enjoyable and relaxing, but don't get too slack! Weekends are about letting your hair down a little, but don't abandon all your healthy habits. Some studies show people generally take in more calories on Friday, Saturday and Sundays and also exercise less. Abandoning your healthy lifestyle plan for those two days can undermine all your hard work on the previous days. This can just slow down progress towards your health and fitness goals and make it harder to get focused again on Monday.

You are not a machine and you don't have to be perfect all the time. Enjoy a drink or two, a dinner out or tasty dessert with family, but remember to counteract that with a nice long walk, a yoga class, some dancing or swimming, a lovely light lunch and some great restful sleep. I will be having eggs and bacon and a big cappuccino for breakfast with my husband in our favourite cafe on Saturday morning ... as I do every Saturday morning. And we will just have a light salad or some fruit for lunch to balance it all out and I will go for a run on Sunday. Remember this is not about a Monday to Friday extreme diet then "cheating" on the weekends. This is about sustainable lifestyle change every day of the year.

Enjoy your weekend!

Lyndal @ Lean Green and Healthy

Stop dieting now. PLEASE!!

Privacy diet , healthy eating

STOP DIETING NOW. Please. With a significant and growing proportion of our population now overweight or obese, I’m urging you, please, don’t go on any more diets.
Now before you think I’ve lost my mind, let me explain why.

You may have read my previous post on why "one-size-doesn't-fit-all" when it comes to diets. One of the points I make in that post is that the word "diet" traditionally just meant the food we eat every day, our daily menu so to speak. But in modern times this word has been charged with so much more meaning (and judgement). We now refer to a "diet" as a restriction of our food, as a set of rules or choices, as a formula or requirement to eat a certain way, and the implication that by "dieting" we are somehow restricting or depriving ourselves. And finally there is the Diet with a capital D - the food plan that comes with a name, a trademark, a book, a TV show, a range of supplements and a one true faith to believe in, often with a cult like fervour and a celebrity to endorse it. And in many cases it is sold as the one, the only, way to eat. Diet has become a dirty four letter word and can fill people with fear and dread.

So if we agree on that definition, and knowing that I'm a doctor and I want you to be as healthy as possible, then why don't I want you to go on a diet?

Firstly, "diets" make you gain weight. Yes, you heard right. I'm not talking about gaining weight during the 12 weeks you are doing the particular plan on the internet or the 60 days you follow the book or the three months you attend the meetings. Most diets, no matter how intense or how crazy, will help you lose weight during that time. I'm talking about afterwards. People who follow a restrictive "diet" generally end up fatter than people who don't in the long run.

The weight-amplifying effect of dieting was evaluated in a study in 2011 based on over

2,000 sets of twins from Finland. The results indicate that dieting itself, independent of genetics, is significantly associated with accelerated weight gain and increased the risk of becoming overweight. The researchers concluded, “It is now well established that the more people engage in dieting, the more they gain weight in the long-term.” This study adds to a body of research which shows that dieting and the ensuing cycling of losing weight, re-gaining weight, and gaining more weight with each subsequent diet, ratchets the baseline weight up even higher, beyond the original weight.

How does this work? The first issue is that very low calorie diets can cause the body to lose a disproportionate amount of muscle mass (which is not the type of weight that any one wants to lose). People are happy because they lose weight fast (on the scales) and look smaller but it is our muscle mass that actually burns the most calories for us in the background. Lose fat AND muscle and you end up thinner, but utilising less and less energy on a daily basis and therefore require less and less calories just to stay the same. After a while the weight loss slows, then stops then people start to re-gain weight even if they are eating the same amount. Do this cycle enough times and you end up with someone who is strictly dieting AND overweight at the same time.

Secondly, extreme caloric restrictions are a physical stress on your body. In patients on low calorie diets (and interestingly also in patients on a ketogenic low carbohydrate diets) some studies have shown markedly increased levels of cortisol, a stress hormone. Cortisol raises blood sugar, and stimulates laying down of fat, especially around your abdomen where it is most dangerous. The other metabolic effects of "dieting" can also cause a change in the hormones that control satiety and hunger - patients are more preoccupied with food, feel more hungry and are less likely to feel full, and this can continue for some time after their "diet" is over.

The statistical bottom line is that the vast majority of short term diets don't work. Sure you will lose weight short term (probably water, fat and muscle), but within 2 years the vast majority of people are the same weight if not heavier than they were before. Funny enough, we seem to know this intuitively, yet we still try keep getting back on the diet cycle. A current Australian weight loss company are using a celebrity in their advertisements who previously and publicly lost a significant amount of weight on their program, has regained it, and is now on their new TV campaign starting again, because she "knows it works". Really? Depends on your definition of "works" I guess. Her weight gain is nothing to be ashamed of and is not her fault, in fact its almost standard for any short term extreme diet, but I find it interesting that it is part of the TV commercial to sell the program. How many people do you know that have weight problems that say they are going to weight watchers again or signing up for another 12 week body transformation program again "because it worked last time". Did it really? If it worked, why do you need to sign up again?

Blogger Ragen Chastain actually describes this really well. She says "I think the diet industry continues to be so successful is that they have found a way to take credit for the (typically successful) short term results of dieting, but blame the client for the (typically unsuccessful) long term results. They know that almost everyone can lose some weight in the short term on almost any diet. They also know that their 5 year success rate is less than 5% but somehow they managed to convince people that the other 95% just didn’t doing it right, and should buy their product again. And we do!"

So if I don't want you to diet, what do I want you to do?

1. Firstly I want you to avoid a fad diet. According to the Better Health Channel Victoria, A fad diet generally has some or all of the following features:

Promises a quick fix
Promotes 'magic' foods or combinations of foods
Implies that food can change body chemistry
Excludes or severely restricts food groups or nutrients, such as carbohydrates
Has rigid rules that focus on weight loss
Makes claims based on a single study or testimonials only.
Is anything that you cannot maintain for the rest of your life without restriction, unhappiness or difficulty

2. I would encourage you not to focus on a diet but instead on a healthy eating plan. My eating prinicples are listed on my blog here, but the general principles for any health eating plan include:

Plenty of vegetables, legumes and fruits.
A variety of grains preferably wholegrain, low glycaemc index and minimally processed
Lean meat, fish, poultry or alternative sources of lean protein.
Milk, yoghurts, cheeses or alternatives sources of calcium.
Plenty of water.
A moderate amount of total fat and limited saturated fat.
A limited amount of salt.
A limited amount of processed and refined sugars, and food and drinks containing added sugars. In particular, limit sugar-sweetened beverages.
Limited alcohol intake, if you choose to drink.
Portion sizes appropriate to your size, age and exercise level.
Flexibility to enjoy treats in moderation.

3. I would like you to try and be mindful of your eating, responsive to your body and don't follow strict eating plans that are not tailored for you. No diet or meal plan from a book or off the internet could possibly “know” your hunger and fullness levels, or what satisfies you. Only you know your eating triggers, your personal likes and dislikes of food, and how foods impact on you physically and emotionally. If you need more structure and support than general principles, then I would encourage you to see a qualified dietitian to have an individual plan tailored for you.

4. Whatever changes you make, make them for life. Don't start doing something you can't continue. Don't get suckered into short term fixes, supplements or snake oil unless you plan to do it forever. Because when you stop these extreme measures, you may be worse off than if you never started. Small, sustainable changes are the key to long term success.

5. Be realistic and focus on the process. Patients who eat a balanced diet and exercise regularly are healthier than those who don't, no matter what their weight is. Obesity is much more complex than just calories in versus calories out - environmental, cultural, genetic and epigenetic, health, socio-economic and lifestyle factors all contribute. So don't focus on the numbers too much. Concentrate on making healthy choices every day. Chances are you will lose weight in a slow and sustainable way and keep it off and get closer to a healthy weight for you. But no matter how much weight you ultimately lose, you will definitely be healthier, and isn't that the ultimate goal?

Lyndal @ Lean Green and Healthy

To snack or not to snack - that is the question!

Privacy healthy eating , snacks

There seems to lots of conflicting evidence out there on the internet about whether we should snacking between meals or not snacking. Are six small meals better than three big ones? Will it helps me lose weight or not? Well I guess the answer is "it depends". Just like there is no one simple diet rule that suits everyone, there is no one simple answer about snacks that suits everyone. Lets explore it in a bit more detail.

What are the benefits of having snacks?

Research has shown that people who eat small healthy meals regularly have less spikes of blood sugar and therefore less corresponding insulin rise, which leads to less insulin resistance and better control of (or prevention of) diabetes. This is more noticeable if the snacks are a combination of low GI carbohydrate and protein.
People who have healthy snacks regularly have improved blood cholesterol and decreased risk of heart disease as the smaller meals do not stimulate liver production of cholesterol to such an extent as larger meals.
People who eat healthy snacks when they feel hungry, will overall eat almost 30% less at their next main meal. Over time, regularly eating smaller meals trains us to want and be satisfied with smaller meals.

But what are the downsides of eating snacks?

Very few processed and commercially available snacks are healthy. There are a plethora of snack foods on the market that are high calorie junk foods pretending to be healthy. The snack food industry is worth over $60 billion a year. Snacks are an opportunity for people to add unnecessary processed food to their diet without realising it.
The evidence of snacks preventing overeating at the next meal only applies if a person is truly hungry when they have the snack. If they are snacking "because its afternoon tea time" or because they are bored, they will not eat less at the next meal and are simply adding extra calories.
If people are adding snacks that are not hungry for and do not need, they can feel lethargic and sluggish and be less likely to exercise.
The metabolic advantage of eating snacks (lower cholesterol and better blood glucose levels) only applies if the person is not gaining weight from their snacking. Obviously if the snacking makes you fatter, then those benefits are no longer clear.

The bottom line...

Firstly, you should avoid overeating at your main meal times - eating until you are uncomfortably full not only spikes blood sugar but will over time cause you to habitually eat bigger meals and obviously more calories. You should avoid skipping meals - eating large infrequent meals dramatically increases the risk of overweight and obesity and the risk of developing type 2 diabetes. The cycle of "starving and stuffing" is detrimental to health as it increases the craving for high calorie foods at your next meal and makes good choices more difficult. You should be focusing your efforts on eating three balanced meals a day, and making those meals as nutritious as possible with healthy unprocessed food, lean protein, good fats and lots of low calorie high fibre vegetables to give you energy, slow digestion and fill you up. With this as your basis you probably won't need snacks on a regular basis... but some days you will feel like it, and some people burn faster than others so you might just need a snack!

Am I really hungry?

But if it is a few hours until your next meal and you are feeling hungry, what should you do? Well the obvious thing is to go grab a healthy snack. But first you need to ask yourself some of the principles of mindful eating:

Am I just thirsty? I usually grab a glass of water or make a cup of tea and see if that makes the feeling go away
Am I just bored? going for a walk, or simply getting up to make that cup of tea usually solves that

Tips for healthy snacking

If I'm still hungry after my cup of green tea, then I know I'm genuinely hungry and I should definitely have a snack to keep my blood sugar stable and avoid overeating at the next meal. Here's some points to remember:

Treat your snack as you would a meal - plan it, put it on a plate, remember your portion sizes, balance is key
Balance low GI carbohydrates and fibre with good fats and proteins - eg some fruit with cheese, vegetables with hummus, fruit with unsalted nuts or nut butters. Have ingredients handy so you avoid grabbing a less healthy option. if you are away from home its a good idea to have these on hand just in case - I try to never leave the house without an apple, some almonds and a bottle of water in my purse- my healthy food emergency kit!
Avoid junk food - unless its a special treat, there is no point in eating high calorie low nutrient foods like chips, sweets, biscuits, cake, or "snack bars" - they won't fill you up and you'll be just as hungry when your next meal is due but with a whole lot more calories on board. These are treat foods, have them when you wish to have a special treat and enjoy every mouthful, but they should not be in your everyday diet.
Don't fall victim to the "open bag syndrome" - whether you're eating a healthy snack like nuts or having a treat like chips, portion sizes are important. Whatever you are eating, put it on a plate and get out of the kitchen - picking at an open pack is an easy way to lose track of just how much you have eaten.
If you have snack foods that you can't resist and are your personal dietary "kryptonite" (shortbread anyone?) then it may be easier for you not to keep them in the house at all! If your choices are all healthy unprocessed foods, then of course you will make healthy choices!
Add lots of vegetables to every meal and you will decrease your hunger in between meals.

So I hope that's helpful. You can be a "snacker" or a "non-snacker" and still be healthy and lose weight if you need to, providing you consider these principles. I snack most days, with lots of green tea, fruit vegetables, nuts and occasionally cheese between meals, and it certainly hasn't hampered my weight loss as I take it all into account.

In summary?
Eat when you're hungry, don't skip meals, and stop before you're too full.
Eat healthy foods, mostly plants.
And just eat real food.

Lyndal @ Lean Green and Healthy

Any more tips for healthy snacking? Tell me in the comments below.

Create healthy habits, not restrictions.

Privacy motivation , tips and tricks

Making healthy choices should not be negative or miserable Changing your life to be more healthy shouldn't make you feel deprived. If you focus on the things you "can't" or "shouldn't" be eating, this will not be a positive experience.

Instead, try to focus on the everyday positive habits you can ADD to make your life healthier. Focus on the powerful choices you are making. Be positive and proud.
Here's some ideas....

Today I will go for a walk.
Today I will drink a glass of water every time I pass the kitchen.
Today I will eat two pieces of fruit.
Today I will add a serve of vegetables to every meal.
Today I will start drinking green tea.
Today I will look at myself in the mirror, smile, and think something positive about myself.
Today I will start getting healthier.

Create healthy habits, not restrictions.

Lyndal @ Lean Green and Healthy

Weight loss cures and snake oil salesmen.

Privacy diet , myths

Well this morning I had a run in with a fellow on the internet over his promotion of supplements for weight loss. He was posting in a group and his advertisement for his magical product encouraged people to lose weight by mixing his potion with milk, peanut butter and butterscotch pudding mix! His other recipe included Oreo cookies and Jello flavoured pudding mix. Mmm sounds like a balanced nutritional meal to me! (not!) Not surprisingly I got a little hot under the collar about this latest dietary scam and decided it was time to talk about weight loss supplements.

Every man and his dog seem to be selling a weight loss "cure" these days. With the rates of overweight and obesity rising, people who are not overweight have become the minority and manufacturers have the biggest potential profit margin EVER. If only there were a safe, reliable, effective weight loss supplement on the market, they would be millionaires. Sad truth is, that there isn't one.

Some meal-replacement programs are effective for short term weight loss under medical supervision, and if you are very obese your doctor may wish to try you with those. I am not personally a fan, because while you may lose weight short term, unless major changes are made most patients regain the weight when they return to eating "real" food. But they can be used effectively, particularly with multidisciplinary support, so I thought it best to mention them. But otherwise there are currently no diet supplements on the market with solid scientific research that are helpful for long term weight loss. Many weight loss supplements (particularly on the internet) are sold in extensive Multi-Level Marketing schemes so the poor people selling them need to push more sales of their product to recoup the money they have spent personally just to get the product themselves. To buy more product they must sell more product and recruit more people to sell more product. The people at the top get rich and the people at the bottom don't get slim! Most are ineffective. Worse, some of those that are on the market are unregulated, unproven or unsafe.

Overweight and obesity is the most rapidly growing health problem in the world and costs governments millions in health costs. More premature death and illness in Australia is now caused by excess body fat than by tobacco smoking or high blood pressure. If you are considering taking a weight loss supplement think about this - if there was a safe, reliable, and effective supplement that would help you lose weight, don't you think your doctor or another health professional would have given it to you by now? We wouldn't need to buy it off the internet, hell, we'd be putting it in the water supply!

The most effective way to lose weight is by sustainable lifestyle change. Eating healthy, balanced nutritious meals in the appropriate amounts for your body and exercising more to get fitter and healthier. Slow, steady and effective. There is no magic and there are no quick fixes.

And one final point: in my previous post on "diet gurus" and "the "one true diet" (read it here) I mentioned that if a diet is going to work, if you are going to lose weight and keep it off, then you need to consider if you could keep doing this forever. Any plan that you undertake short term will have short term results and when you reach your goal weight (or get sick of it) and go back to your previous life, the weight comes right back on (and then some). Unless you are planning to take this supplement (with its cost, hassle and unknown health risks) for the REST OF YOUR LIFE, then don't start now.

Don't waste your money. Just eat real food.

Lyndal @ Lean Green and Healthy

I'm going to hand the final word on this issue to Dr Yoni Freedhoff, who I have quoted before. He is a fellow physician and health blogger whose views I highly respect:

Eat real food.

Privacy healthy eating , motivation

Less packets.

Less numbers.

Less additives.

Less preservatives.

Less salt.

Less chemicals.

Less stuff made in factories.

Less take away.

Less drive through.

Less eating at the television, at the desk or in the car.

Less shipped from the other side of the planet.

Less out of season.

And maybe just less.

Eat real food.

Lyndal @ Lean Green and Healthy

Understanding Common Diseases - free online course

Privacy diabetes , health news

One of the important keys to improving your own health is learning as much as you can about your body and how it works. In 2013, one of my academic colleagues, Dr Kylie Mansfield and I worked on a great project to develop a free online course for the public called Understanding Common Diseases. The course is run by Open2Study, an arm of Open Universities Australia, and is made up of four online modules that runs over four weeks. The modules look at high blood pressure, diabetes, heartburn and reflux and the common cold. They cover material from the basics of the science behind these conditions, meeting a patient with the problem and go on to look at common medications, treatments and lifestyle changes to treat and prevent the health issues discussed.

The course runs over a four week period and takes approximately two hours a week to cover all the material. Its self-paced and the video modules are run in blocks of 10-15 minutes so you really can log on and watch a clip whenever you have time. Almost 5,000 students have done the course so far and the reviews have been very positive. And did I mention it's free?

Click on the video to view the trailer and if you're still interested, click on the link here to go to the Open2Study site to enrol. The next course starts on 2 June. (and yes, that's me in the pink jacket! LOL) Hope to see you online!

Lyndal @ Lean Green and Healthy

Health4Tips

Monday, October 20, 2014

Learning to love legumes - reblogging a great article by Sally Marchini

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

What does a balanced meal look like?

Saturday, June 7, 2014

Focus on the journey NOT the destination

Friday, June 6, 2014

Relax - its Friday! (but don't relax too much!)

Sunday, June 1, 2014

Stop dieting now. PLEASE!!

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

To snack or not to snack - that is the question!

Create healthy habits, not restrictions.

Weight loss cures and snake oil salesmen.

Saturday, May 24, 2014

Eat real food.

Friday, May 23, 2014

Understanding Common Diseases - free online course

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