Messages about sugar not being good for us have now confused the question about fruit and the natural sugars in them to the point that we may not be sure whether it's OK to eat or not.

What's fair to say is that  if you are eating a balanced diet which is rich in WHOLE, NATURAL  & UNPROCESSED food types then you can eat fruit for sure. 
​
FIBRE: 
What you need to know is how much sugar is going to impact your health in a negative way negative.
Most fruits are high in fibre - this is good. Fibre slows down digestion, is good for your gut health and also reduces  the speed sugars are taken into the blood stream. 
It is advised to stay away from dried fruit and fruit juices as you lose that fibre and you'll get the sugar hit you are not wanting health wise - as this stimulates the insulin hormone which is your fat/energy storage mechanism. You will not burn fat while it is circulating in your system. 
VITAMINS: 
Fruit is also great from a vitamin point of view. We get vitamin C from a lot of fruit as well as beta-carotene good for eye health and vitamin K which is handy for blood health and helps bind calcium in bones and other tissues. 
CALORIES:  
Your average piece of fruit contains about 80-120 calories and is usually made up of carbs with some having a little fat and protein - but don't rely on these last 2. Fruit is predominantly a carb but please don't let that put you off.
We need some carbs (the more active you are the more you need) and we certainly need vitamins and minerals for optimal bodily function. Vegetables and fruit are the best place to get these.

So how much?

Well if you are looking to lose some weight I wouldn't recommend more than 1 maximum 2 pieces of fruit a day. They can be made up of any fresh fruits - make sure you wash them in water and vinegar before eating to remove and nasties that may be on the skins - I'm talking pesticides and fungicides to name but 2. In an ideal world they are different colours and one is ideally a berry of some kind.

Berries tend to be lower in sugar content, but what they do have is partially offset by the fibre they have with them. This time of year berries are great - the boring old apple can be rested and you can go for all sorts of berries which are the ideal fruit "GO TO". Lots of anti-oxidants which help our body's manage and mop up oxidative stress in the body which is just what happens day to day - the more stress you experience though, the more anti oxidants you will need.

Here are some fruit examples so you can see the calories and the carbs.

Fruit            I     Calories     I    Carbs (g)   
Mango                  107                28g              
Blueberries            21                5.5g
(1 cup) 
Banana                 110               29g
Sultanas (box)      315               72g
5 Dried apricots    100               24g 
1 Peach                50                 8g
         
BOTTOM LINE: 
The key is balance and colour in your diet. Don't eat a tonne of fruit if you are not active or trying to lose weight. If you are at a healthy weight enjoy 2-3 pieces of colourful fruit a day and try to get a berries of some kind into 1 or 2 or those servings.

If you are wanting more help and support on your nutrition journey try our Get Going with Nutrition Package or contact Rich for a FREE 20 minute chat in person or online or text/call 021777417.

Yes to all the parents out there with little ones that are ALL a.m. people by default you will be experiencing broken sleep. Hold tight, it will pass so long as you are strict with routine and you are firm when they wake up that they must stay in their own beds (obviously there are exceptions when they're sick). I found when my kids were young that the earlier we could get them to self sooth - i.e. get themselves back to sleep on their own the more success we had with keeping them asleep, or at least in their rooms and not interrupting Mum and Dad's sleep.
They're all different so you'll need to work out what works for you. If you need to catch up on sleep at other times do so.
We are generally monophasic sleepers in western cultures which means we usually only sleep once each day. There are no rules if you need to rest or sleep DO IT!

We all love our teas and coffees - well most of us do and if you don't you may be a Red Bull or V drinker. If so you may be consuming more than recommended and this may be having an impact on your sleep patterns. We each metabolise caffeine differently but a recommended amount per day is about 400mg which is approximately 2 decent home brewed cups of coffee. Caffeine has a 'half life' of about 6 hours, again we are all different so this is only an average. This means that if you drank coffee as 2pm you will still have caffeine in your system at 8pm. If you normally go to bed at 8pm then sleep may be a problem for you.
SO - think back over your day and work out how to change your caffeine timing or quantity.

If you have a busy life then there needs to be an element of relaxation in your life. If you have a busy job, a commute in busy traffic and then have to do lots of chores when you get home and by the time you have done all of these cooked, cleaned, washed, ironed and whatever else is on your list it may well be bedtime. Well this isn't setting you up for the best nights sleep. 
One of the best pieces of advice I have found that works with clients in this situation is to find a wind down routine that works for them. The easiest way is to read for an hour before bed. This way you will have less screen time, (it needs to be an actual book not a tablet or a kindle) more learning or escapism depending on your preferred genre of book. Your brain has a chance to simply focus on one thing only. Your heart rate drops, your muscles relax, your brain relaxes and when it comes time to put the book down your brain and body are in a far better state to then go to and stay ASLEEP. 
Writing things down at the end of a day is also good for off loading the brain. I use a Bullet Journal.There's an app to support you doing it too!!

You may have seen one of my Facebook posts about blue light and its effects on sleep. Blue light is an element of light as all light comes on a spectrum. Almost rainbow like in range. Blue light has a powerful role in keeping us awake and giving us the signal that it is daytime. You'll get this from natural light if you step outside. However, at night time when the sun has gone down we really don't want any blue light hitting our brain because blue light tells out brain to not make melatonin - OUR SLEEP HORMONE. So if we watch TV, use our phones, tablets computers after the sun has gone down we are not giving our brains the correct signals that it is night time and sleep is not far away. SO either stop the use of these items or at least stop a minimum of 90 minutes before bedtime or grab yourself some blue light blocking glasses so you can keep working on that presentation or finish that Netflix binge!!

If you have been under the influence a long term stressor then your cortisol profile may well be out of kilter. There is a healthy pattern that cortisol should take over the course of the day. There are a number of things that could count as stressors. They key is to identify yours and put a strategy into place to manage it as best you can. 
In the morning cortisol is supposed to be reasonably high which gives you the energy you need for the day and as the day moves along it gradually drops down to lower levels so you can then sleep. It works inversely to melatonin which I just mentioned in the point above. However, if there are things causing ongoing stress for you this pattern can be thrown out and cortisol may be higher than it should be at the end of the day. Melatonin will be lower as a result and sleep may well be a wish rather than an given! Find ways to reduce stress and allow your natural cortisol pattern to kick in. Sleep patterns should return to normal once you have this in place.

Often all we need is a little more movement in our day to help our bodies feel tired as well as our minds. Why not get outside for a walk in nature, if you can. If you only get to a local park and walk around it multiple times then that still counts as being in nature. There are many benefits of exercise which we all probably know but there are also lots of good things about being in nature - especially if you work in an office all day. Here's a blog I wrote recently on the very subject of getting into nature or forest bathing to give it the technical name - about which research has been completed. The efforts of the physical will help set your body up for a better night sleep - give it a go.

These 6 tips may not be exhaustive but may go some way to helping you sleep better. If you are still struggling then you may need deeper help.
The new Fit 4 Life Better Health Packages go into these and other elements of health much deeper and set you on a path to optimal health. Feel free to make contact to discuss by booking in a free 20 minute consult in person or online.

Those were the days, but those were the things I had been brought up with.
I'd get up for school, head to the kitchen put the bread into the toaster and start eating my bowl of cereal - this usually consisted of Sultana Bran, so, could be worse like Friut Loops full of colourful E numbers!
It has only been in recent years when I have taken a bigger interest in food, nutrition and recently completing my grad cert with Holistic Performance Nutrition to become a nutrition coach that I cemented in a few things I thought were healthy, but wasn't ever truly sure. 

You see, we are advised that we should only eat the equivalent of 6 tea spoons of sugar over the course of the day. But if you have breakfast like I was having, add in a glass of apple or orange juice it wouldn't be difficult to hit the 6 in that single sitting. Clearly by the end of the day I would have been over the 6 for sure. There had to be a better way of eating so that I didn't always need morning tea at 10.30 and I could go through til lunch happy that I was satisfied from the breakfast meal. 
​HUNGER:
​The food industry and specifically the breakfast cereal manufacturers have educated us into thinking that we must eat their products to start the day off right when in fact if we do we will probably be hungry again before 10.30 if we were to stick to their portion sizes, as they simply won't keep up going long enough.

If we eat foods that don't keep us full for long enough then we will be back for more adding to our daily calorie intake.

​Foods low in naturally occurring fibre, protein and high in sugar, natural or added will spike our blood sugars and there will be a corresponding drop in blood sugars once the hormone insulin kicks in to dispose of the sugar into our muscles or liver. Once those jobs are done if there is still sugar in our system it is converted to fat - if we don't move around enough to burn it off that is.

So find things that you enjoy. Find food that satisfies your hunger and try eating that for breakfast instead of toast and cereal. 
You'll be amazed how you feel. 
You'll get to your 5+ a day so much more easily which is a must for all the vitamins and minerals that our body requires to operate at it's best. 

If you are struggling for what to eat or cannot shift those final few kg's from Christmas drop me a message and I'd be happy to help you workout the best way for your body to stay healthy and on top of life. 

Yours in health Rich 021 777 417.

​OR try the Get Going Nutrition package