Diabetes/Metabolic Syndrome
I believe that what represents an ideal diet varies from person to person, but one thing I’m clear about is that many health professionals and even our Governments advise intakes of carbohydrate that are greater than is good for us. In particular, while starchy carbohydrates such as bread, potatoes, rice, pasta and breakfast cereals have […]
Healthy Eating
Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the most common cause of loss of vision in adults. Recently, I wrote about this condition, and offered some suggestions regarding the sort of supplements that appear to have promise in the management of this condition. Last year, I wrote about a study that found a link between eating a […]
Children's Health
While not all dietary approaches are applicable or beneficial to everyone, there are some, I think, that generally hold true. Here’s one: if you want a long and healthy life, do what you can to ensure stability in blood sugar and insulin levels. What this means usually means in practice is the regular eating of […]
Diabetes/Metabolic Syndrome
One basic nutritional tenet I subscribe to is the idea that the diet should be based on foods that give relatively slow sustained release of sugar into the blood stream. Some of the reason for this thinking comes from the fact that fast sugar-releasing (high glycaemic index) foods will tend to cause surges in the […]
Healthy Eating
In the World of nutrition, not everyone shares the same opinion (obviously). And perhaps the most stark and common example of this concerns the relative amounts of carbohydrate and fat we should have in our diets. The conventional view is that the diet should be, generally speaking, low in fat and high in carb. Fat, […]
Diabetes/Metabolic Syndrome
At the end of last year I reported on the findings of the mammoth Women’s Health Initiative trial. The trial was initiated in 1993, and recruited a total of almost 50,000 post-menopausal women and followed them for an average of about 8 years. About 60 per cent of these women were allowed to continue on […]
Exercise and Activity
I noticed an interesting article in the British Journal of Sports Medicine (BJSM) recently. It sought to determine the explanation for the ‘paradox’ seen in Masai tribesmen in Kenya can consume relatively large quantities of animal fat (especially in the form of milk, meat and blood), and have stunningly low rates of heart disease. We […]
Healthy Eating
It’s perhaps one of the most contentious issues in nutrition: should individuals who want to control their weight eat a diet low in fat, or low in carbohydrate? The ‘conventional’ view is that fat is ‘calorific’ and fattening, so low-fat is the way to go. However, some (e.g. Gary Taubes and the late Robert Atkins) […]
Diabetes/Metabolic Syndrome
The body mass index (BMI) is the standard and most commonly-used method for assessing body weight by health professionals. It is calculated by dividing an individual’s weight in kg by the square of their height in metres. The fact that some arithmetic is required to ascertain the BMI makes it look quite scientific and robust. […]
Diabetes/Metabolic Syndrome
Diabetes UK is the UK’s largest and most prominent diabetes charity. Have a look here and you will se the charity proudly proclaiming that: We stand up for the interests of people with diabetes by campaigning for better standards of care. However, I’m doubtful that Diabetes UK is fulfilling its brief in this respect, seeing […]