Dietitian Eats Series: Laura Appel

If you missed the first two in the series (myself and Caitlin's), click here and here. A quick run-down? The Dietitian Eats Series is a series of food diaries or 'days on a plate' from Dietitians, so you can check out what the people who've made a career out of food and health eat!

Today? Meet Laura…

Laura Appel, Accredited Practising Dietitian

Currently working as a casual consultant for Nutrition Australia, this was her first job as a new graduate and she has found the work a great deal of fun and an excellent learning experience as she entered the workforce. Laura is also looking for work in a hospital as she loves the challenge of therapeutic dietetics in complex cases. She has also decided to do some work as a private dietitian. Laura sees people in their own homes for individual consults, menu planning assistance and a range of exciting nutrition education services. 

Facebook: www.facebook.com/lauraappeldietetics 

Email: lauraappel@outlook.com 

Food Philosophy: I am a dietitian that believes that life is to be lived and food is to be enjoyed.  Aim to eat foods that are beneficial for your health the majority of the time, but it is ok to have those things that aren’t so good in moderation. A few ‘unhealthy’ items are not going to ruin your health but rather will be much better for your mental health in the long run. So enjoy a piece of birthday cake at a party, an Easter egg at Easter, eat a little too much at Christmas and have a cookie your grandmother baked, just make sure the majority of the food you put in will give your body all the good nutrients it need to fuel you for life.

7am I usually eat a pretty standard breakfast of cereal, oats, yoghurt or toast. Today I opted for a mix of oats, 1 weetbix and some Uncle Toby’s Plus Omega-3 cereal. I also had a cup of instant coffee. I used Coles light milk on my cereal and in my coffee. I am a big fan of using smaller bowls for my cereal as I know, being a cereal lover, if I have a bigger bowl I will fill it!

10.30am I wasn’t too hungry this morning so I just had a lemon and ginger tea. I often will have some nuts and/or some fruit to keep me going until lunch if I am feeling peckish mid-morning, the protein in the nuts and fibre in the fruit allows me to not eat too much at lunch.

12.30pm As I said previously, I usually eat pretty standard meals; lunch is usually a sandwich, salad or maybe some leftovers. Today was salmon and cucumber on sourdough bread. I always have to have something a little bit sweet to finish off lunch, studies have found that this does help you to register that the meal has now finished. Today I had some Greek yoghurt with a couple of marinated figs to bring some of sweetness to the table. I washed it all down with a glass of water.

3.30pm As dietitians we are not exempt from the 3:30itis. This macaron needed to be consumed as I had portioned out my birthday box of 6 from my favourite dessert king Adriano Zumbo. This one was red velvet, one of my favourite flavours. I made sure that I sat away from the computer and enjoyed this treat with a cup of green tea. I don’t usually have an afternoon snack but I just couldn’t leave the last macaron another day. 

7pm Today was Pad Thai. This one contained turkey mince, carrots, beans, spring onions and rice noodles with a soy and lime sauce. I wilted a heap of bok choy to bump up the vegetable content and prevent myself consuming too much of the delicious noodles. Each of my dinners aim to have a serve of protein, serve or 2 of carbohydrates and up to 3 serves of vegetables and this idea seems to work well with most recipes.

8.30pm I am thinking I am hungry now because of walking the dog and doing my housework in the afternoon rather than the morning. I decided to make a mini smoothie. I blended up a frozen banana with a dash of light milk and spoon of Greek Yoghurt, I also added about a teaspoon of cocoa powder to give it a chocolate taste. I usually have an herbal tea and a piece of fruit or maybe some dark chocolate but tonight I knew that I needed something a bit more satisfying. 

Dietitian Eats Series: Caitlin Lawson

If you missed the first in the series and are wondering what this is all about click here. But for a quick synopsis- my Dietitan Eats Series is basically a series of food diaries or 'days on a plate' from Dietitians, so you can have a bit of a peek into what the people who've made a career out of food and health eat!

Today? Meet Caitlin…

Caitlin Lawson, Accredited Practising Dietitian

Currently working full time at a private hospital in Hurstville as both the Clinical and Food Service Dietitian. This involves analysing and reviewing menu items and recipes to ensure that the hospital is providing both safe and nutritious food to patients. Also consulting with inpatients in the hospital, and providing basic nutrition education to doctors and hospital staff.

Email: caitlin_lawson@hotmail.com 

Food Philosophy: Just because food is healthy, it doesn’t have to mean that it isn’t delicious.

8.30am I had a late start for work this morning so I treated myself to a breakfast date with some friends. This was from Pilgrims Vegetarian Café in Cronulla. I was starving because I had just run the sand dunes and needed to refuel. I ate that whole bowl of their homemade granola, topped with greek yoghurt, berries and honey. To top it off I also enjoyed an apple & berry smoothie. And I tell you, it was delicious.

10am I stop at my favourite coffee shop on the way on the way to work every morning. They make the best coffee, and I always find myself wishing I got the bigger size… but I’ve got to watch those portions! This morning I coupled my coffee with a handful of Almonds.

1pm Because its coming into winter and my office is the definition of an igloo, I’m right into soups for lunch. I make big batches of different soups on Sunday and freeze it for the week. This one is a lentil, cannellini bean and mixed vegetable soup. And it’s so, so tasty.

3.30pm I’m a bit of a fiend for curry and eggs. So naturally I’m a fiend for curried eggs. This is my afternoon tea which is two boiled eggs with a bit of curry powder, and a teaspoon of mayonnaise on rice crackers. 

7pm This meal was actually the highlight of my day. I love salmon. It’s probably my favourite food. Here I tossed some garlic, lemongrass, chilli, coriander and soy in the pan with some broccolini, baby pak choy and diced zucchini. I used the same mix to marinate the salmon before grilling it. This is what I call healthy food that is delicious.

8pm These are special treats that I make every now and again and they are super tasty. Slice a fresh banana, put 1 tsp of natural peanut butter between 2 slices and dunk in dark chocolate – refrigerate or freeze then eat. I love these; I just have to exercise some self control around them! It’s very hard to stop at one with these babies.

 

Dietitian Eats Series: Megan Cameron-Lee

As a Dietitian, I constantly get asked whether I eat “like, really healthy?” There’s this misconception that the diet of a Dietitian consists solely of salad and grilled chicken and that it definitely doesn’t contain chocolate or cake or pizza, or anything vaguely delicious. Well I wanted to quash that notion by inviting several of my Dietitian friends to share their daily eats in a series of blog posts.

The idea? To let YOU know that a good diet means everything in moderation; that Dietitians aren’t the fun-sucking food police- that in fact we got into dietetics because we’re all foodies at heart; that there are so many different versions of ‘healthy’ and; to give you some healthy meal inspirations. Plus, who doesn’t love a good food perve?

So, I’ll be posting the food diaries of other Dietitians on my blog twice a week for the next few weeks! But first I decided to kick the series off by sharing my own ‘day on a plate’…

 



Megan Cameron-Lee, Accredited Practising Dietitian

Currently working in two Sydney-based practices with Exercise Physiologists, conducting individual consults and group programs; contributing to stock pages and writing articles for a food and nutrition magazine; sharing nutrition knowledge through various social media and this weekly blog!

Blog: www.thedieteticdegustation.blogspot.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/thedieteticdegustation
Twitter: @dieteticdegust
Email: m.cameronlee@gmail.com
Food Philosophy: It doesn’t have to be complicated or involve obscure 'health' foods, and you don't need to give up all the foods you love. Just focus on filling your plate with lots of healthy everyday veg, fruit & grains most of the time and eat everything else in moderation!

6.30am Breakfast is one meal I will never miss; if I do I’m hungry within an hour. My parents used to joke and ask if I wanted to use a mixing bowl for my cereal, since I always pour well over the recommended serve size. Today though, it’s natural muesli with skim milk which is more filling so I can get away with a little less.

 

 

11am I’m feeling a bit peckish so munch on an orange.

 

12.30pm I almost always find the time to prepare my lunch the night before when working- usually an egg or salad sandwich or leftovers. Since the weather’s getting a bit chilly, today I’ve opted for a toasted sandwich- reduced fat hommus, tomato, grated carrot, a slice of reduced fat cheese and rocket on rye bread. Plus, my secret ingredient: spring onion, which brings a great flavour.

 

4pm I’m quite predictable when it comes to my afternoon snack, it alternates between one of my homemade muesli bars (find the recipe here) or some yoghurt and fruit. I stewed some rhubarb and apple on the weekend so I’ve topped my reduced fat plain yoghurt with it along with some Kellogg’s All Bran Fibre Toppers- they add great crunch!

6.30pm Dinner tonight is one of my faves- lean beef, brown rice & veg stuffed into half a large red capsicum, plus a small rocket and tomato salad with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar (recipe also on m blog- here). Definitely more filling than it looks!

8pm Dessert is one thing I refuse to live without. I eat it just about every night, no joke. I love to bake so often it’s a pudding or piece of cake that I’ve made (a ‘healthier’ version of course!), but tonight there isn’t any baking in the house so I choose 3 pieces of my most recent favourite chocolate- dark peppermint cream- mmm.

Want to check out the diets of more Dietitians? Well don't worry, the next post will be up in a few days. But in the meantime, search 'what I ate on Wednesday' and you'll find similar food diaries from registered Dietitians from all around the world!

Ricotta and spinach stuffed chicken with white bean smash

Every once in a while I feel like spending a bit of extra time in the kitchen to make something a little bit special. And I don’t mean hours and hours- I don’t believe good, nutritious meals should have to take much time out of our busy days- but if you have an extra 15 minutes to spare and want to wow your family or friends, try this one. White bean smash is an idea I introduced in my pantry staples post (see here if you missed it) as an alternative to mashed potato, an easy way to boost the fibre, protein and vegetable serves of your meal. This dish also proves that pesto doesn’t just have to be left to pasta; in this recipe it acts as a lovely flavour-packed sauce! For more from me on pesto, click here.

Ricotta and spinach stuffed chicken with white bean smash

2-3 chicken breasts (~500g)

100g reduced fat ricotta

¼ C spinach, finely chopped

2 Tbsp semi-dried tomatoes, patted dry, finely chopped

2x400g cans cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

1 tsp minced garlic

2 Tbsp skim milk

4 Tbsp basil pesto (bought or homemade, see recipe), thinned out with a little water

1 bunch broccolini

1 carrot, sliced

1 large zucchini, sliced

1.     Combine ricotta, spinach and semi-dried tomatoes in a small bowl. Set aside.
2.      Cut a horizontal pocket into each chicken breast and spans nearly the whole length and width of the breast so that there is just one opening.
3.      Spoon or pipe ricotta mixture into the pockets of each chicken breast, using your hands to massage the mixture evenly down the length of the breast.   
4.     Cook in a large frypan over medium heat, sprayed with a little olive or canola oil, turning until cooked through (longer than an un-stuffed breast, roughly 20mins). Alternatively, brown in a frypan then finish the cooking process in the oven.
5.     Meanwhile, heat beans in a medium-sized saucepan over low heat, together with garlic, and a drizzle of olive oil. Mash roughly so the beans don’t quite form a smooth mash, but more of a ‘smash’. Stir through milk and season with salt and pepper.
6.      Meanwhile, steam vegetables in the microwave or a steamer.
7.     Slice each stuffed chicken breast and serve each person a large spoonful of bean smash, a few slices of stuffed chicken, vegetables and top with a tablespoon of pesto.

Serves 4

10 of the best free health and nutrition apps: Part Two

Last week I brought you 5 out of my top 10 free health and nutrition apps (if you missed it, click here). They weren't in any particular order (except number 1! But you'll know that if you've read 'part one'), so here are the next 5. I will say that after posting the first blog I was directed to an app I hadn't seen before but I thought good enough to make the list so there has been some rearranging (sorry to the app that didn't make the cut!).

Anyway, without further adieu…

6. GS1 Go Scan- GS1 Australia

From the people who are responsible for for the barcodes on the products we buy, and making the little beep when it goes through the register, comes GS1 Go Scan. This app allows you to search foods (by product description, brand or category), scan the barcode or enter the barcode number and it provides you with all the information available about that product. This includes the ingredients list, nutrition information panel, list of allergens, dietary information and country of origin. It lets you save your favourite products and set individual alerts for your allergens or other diet requirements (e.g. vegetarian, kosher, etc).

7. Quick Health Age Check- Bupa

Ever watched those episodes on The Biggest Loser where they tell the contestants their 'health age' or what age they'll live to if they keep up their unhealthy lifestyle (and then the improvements once they do change)? Well this app lets you do the same thing for yourself. It will calculate your health age and health risk based on your lifestyle factors, such as your weight, smoking status and medical history. You can then make adjustments to your lifestyle factors to see just how much of an impact certain healthy changes would have on your health.

8. All-Bran Fibre Tracker- Kellogg's

I have to admit I'm a bit of a freak when it comes to how much I love my fibre. And I know I'm alone on that one- most people aren't getting anywhere near the fibre they need from their diet. The All-Bran Fibre Tracker tells you how much fibre you need in a day and lets you track how much you get by adding fibre-containing foods that you ate. Search for foods by category or product (it has all the Kellogg's products plus loads of other generic foods). You can create a shopping list, scroll through the high-fibre recipes and work towards your daily fibre goal, all while learning about which foods are the highest in fibre!

9. Cal Cutter- NYC Health

This is an app which was developed by the New York City Health Department and I think it's a fabulous idea for an app! Enter your own recipe and the number of serves it makes and Cal Cutter will convert it to a healthier dish by suggesting changes you could make to the recipe that could lower the energy (by cutting calories (kilojoules)) and lets you save or email the healthier version. A great way to teach people how to modify recipes to make them healthier.

10. Cookspiration- Dietitians of Canada

This app was developed by the Dietitians of Canada (Canada's version of the Dietitians Association of Australia). It's ultimately a cookbook filled with with loads of healthy recipes plus their nutritional information. The app has a different set of recipes to suit each day of the week and each time of day (morning, late afternoon, evening, etc). It will automatically pop up as the time of day is with recipes divided into different categories to suit what you might want to be cooking then. A great trustworthy source of healthy meal ideas.

So there you have it, 10 of what I think are the best free health and nutrition apps out there. Think there's one I missed? Let me know and I'll be sure to share it with my followers!

10 of the best free health and nutrition apps: Part One

 

Technology just keeps amazing me. Maybe because when I was young computers just started being an every household appliance, and we moved from the old Nokia bricks to teeny tiny mobiles to large flat 'smart phones' and suddenly you're weird if you don't use email, have facebook and twitter and spend endless hours on your phone or tablet or laptop that you'll never get back again. Getting the sense that underneath all my blogging wizardry I'm actually a technophobe? Well you'd be correct. I'm what my advertising and marketing student boyfriend calls a 'lagger'. I was the last of my friends to get msn, myspace and facebook and I only THIS CHRISTMAS got a smartphone! (That's right, before then was a simpler time that consisted of only using my phone to send texts or make calls).

 

 

But the point I'm (slowly) getting to is that technology can be used for good instead of evil, especially when it comes to health. One of the most exciting parts of getting a smart phone, for me, was scrolling through the app store searching for awesome health and nutrition apps (free of course, because I remain a huge tight arse). So I thought you'd appreciate a list of my top 10 favourite apps! In fact I started writing this blog and realised it would be way to long if I did all 10 at once, so I've decided to break it into two blogs. Here are the first 5, in no particular order (although number 1 is my clear favourite)...

 

 

1. Easy Diet Diary- Xyris Software

 

 

 

From the makers of the software Dietititans use, Easy Diet Diary lets you keep an electronic diary of the foods you eat and the exercise you do. You can enter in your own profile, including your weight and energy goals, add your own foods and recipes or scan the extensive database of generic and branded foods and activities. Keep track of the energy you consume (as well as major nutrients, by food, meal and day) and the energy you burn to meet your daily target. You can even send the diary to your Dietitian who can then open it in their FoodWorks program!

 

 

2.      Food Switch- Bupa & the George Institute

 

 

A brilliant app that lets you scan barcodes while shopping to see what's in your food. It uses a traffic light system for different nutrients (green for good, orange for ok and red for not so good) and lets you select a switch- to generally healthier products, to products will less salt, or to products without gluten. An easy way to decipher nutrition panels and choose the better choice. You can save your favourites and make personalised shopping lists too.

 

3. 8700- NSW Government

 

This government campaign is a great one in my opinion, aiming to make Australians more aware of what kilojoules are (the unit of measure used for the energy people get from eating and drinking, also known as calories, in case you were wondering). You can calculate your 'ideal figure'- the number of kilojoules you need to consume to maintain a healthy weight- and then search the amount of kilojoules in fast foods (both generic and brands) as well as how many kilojoules you can burn doing everyday activities, sports and exercise. Each food also shows up how much activity you'd have to do to burn it off!

 

4. Calorie King

 

 

Calorie King has a website, a pocket book and now an app. You can quickly search the nutritional information of certain foods, by category, brand or fast food chain. And for those of you who just got your heads around kilojoules from the last app, Calorie King displays both calories and kilojoules.

 

5. My Energy Balancer- Medibank

 

It can be difficult to balance the energy you consume and the energy you burn, but this balancing act is (in the most part) what determines whether we gain weight, lose weight or maintain our weight. This app lets you search for a food item and choose your quantity, then choose an activity and it will show you how long you need to do it (say, walking) for in order to burn the food off. Or vice versa.

 



(Keep an eye out for the next 5 in my next post coming soon!)