This week I discovered that I actually know very little about health and nutrition. I thought I was pretty clued up but it seems even a vegetable, fruit and freefrom lover like myself can be woefully educated on such matters.
Do you know which vitamins and minerals you should be getting in your every day diet for healthy skin, hair and bones? ; Do you know which foods are highest in calcium and how you ensure your zinc, vitamin and omega levels are topped up? ; It can make a huge difference to your health if you have eczema, asthma and allergies; diet has long been known to be a big contributor in these conditions.
People with bad eczema and allergies may often be deficient in zinc, vitamin D and E, omega fatty acids, calcium, magnesium and also have over sensitive immune systems and high levels of IgE mast cells which are what overreact to allergens and cause the allergic reaction. ; Several studies have proved this.
In May 2011 the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology published a study entitled "Vitamin D levels and food and environmental allergies in the United States: Results from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2005-2006" which studied and proved a possible link between those with high IgE levels and low vitamin D absorption.
In June 2010 The British Medical Journal published an article comparing a western diet with lots of burgers and processed foods with a mediteranean diet with lots of fresh fruit, vegetables and fish. Perhaps not surprisingly, "Burger diet boosts kids? asthma and wheeze risk" proves that the burger diet is indeed more likely to give kids asthma.
There is a definite link with health, fitness and emotional wellbeing and allergies, eczema and asthma. ; Stress can be a huge contributory factor and one that's hard to control but if you learn to notice this and understand the triggers you should actively try to reduce stress, get more exercise and eat healthily. ;
We do know this but it?s never a bad thing to refresh our knowledge and discover new foods to try. A varied diet with as many different foods is best, obviously avoiding those pesky allergens at all cost.
Now I?m not sure I can even share how bad my score was but I took a test on the Bupa find healthy page which is jam packed with new Bupa apps, tools and advice on all manner of health issues from nutrition and fitness to alcohol, diabetes and cancer.
It?s all free to use and covers pretty much every condition you can think of. ; I found the Diet and Nutrition pages most interesting and took the Nutrition Quiz to see how much I knew. Very little it seems ? ha ha. What did you score?
I did pretty badly getting only 30% correct the first time I took it but I did know about vitamins for the skin and the allergies and intolerances question ? thank goodness for that!
You can also count your calories using another app. When you consider that freefrom foods can be much higher in fats, salt and sugar because of their very nature and these things are added to make them more palatable. ; Don't assume because it's freefrom that it's more healthy. It could contain far more calories than you expect so do check. ; When making bread and cakes for instance without dairy, other fats need to be used and some recipes include as much as a cup of oil. Obviously it depends on the type of oil used, but your supposed healthy diet could be anything but. ; It's really important to understand what you're eating.
When you substitue bread, which in its most basic form is just flour, water, salt and yeast you replace it with a gluten free loaf with so many ingredients that are needed to make it soft, edible and tasty you might question the benefit of this. ; It's important to check what all the ingredients are and experiment with different lunch solutions. On the go a sandwich is often the easiest solution so there is a place for gluten free bread, but there are loads of other things you could make like tasty salads, some veg sticks with a dip, left over rice salad or some gluten free crackers with your favourite topping.
Why not also take the Bupa diet assessment. ; You'll need to register to do this and it takes about five minutes to complete the simple survey but it is interesting to note the guidelines on the amount of protein, carbohydrates, fat, salt and sugar we should be consuming.
Processed meats and ready meals aren?t good, we all know that, but the survey has highlighted a few things I need to look at.
It was pretty basic but I do need to try to incorporate more oily fish into my weekly diet e.g. salmon, herring, sardines and kippers. ; I love them so this shouldn?t be too hard.
One thing it doesn?t allow is to download the report for further reading, which I would have found useful, but you can delve deeper into each section for further information.
It does recommend eating nuts for protein and tomatoes which are stuffed with goodness. It picked up that I eat neither but it didn't know why. I'm allergic to both so it was useful to find out which other foods would help to replace lost nutrients caused by cutting out certain foods.
Tomatoes are a rich source of vitamin A and C, potassium, folate and lycopene. This makes them a very nutritious and low-calorie food choice (about 14.5 calories in a medium tomato). If you can't eat tomatoes, like me, lycopene, which is what makes tomatoes red, ; is also present in red peppers, pink grapefruit, watermelons and apricots. I noted as a footnote that it does say, if you have an allergy to tomatoes don't start eating them! That made me laugh ? I'm not quite that stupid but I suppose everywhere these little provisos must be used just in case someone were to get confused and think what a lot they were missing out on. I do have massive tomato envy and would love to be able to eat them but I manage pretty well without.
Raw, unsalted nuts are a nutritious but high-calorie food source that contains monounsaturated fats (the "good" fats), low in saturated fat (the "bad" fats) and are cholesterol-free. Nuts contain dietary fibre, plant protein, folic acid, vitamin B6, niacin, magnesium, zinc, copper and potassium, as well as vitamin E and the amino acid arginine, which helps heart circulation.
Bupa didn't suggest other sources for these minerals if one is allergic to nuts but I eat lots of seeds including sunflower, sesame and flax seed as well as pulses and beans instead. ; I would have liked to see some other suggestions here for those of us who aren't lucky enough to be able to eat nuts.
You could spend hours on this website trying different tests and playing with the apps. For instance, you can check your alcohol units, take a stress assessment, work out your Health Age and even find information about sleep patterns.
Give Bupa?s free apps and tools a go today and find a healthy balance in your diet, health and lifestyle.
If you are at all concerned about your diet your doctor should be able to refer you to a dietician or nutritionist. You should also speak to your allergy specialist or of course, Bupa, if you?re a member or decide to join.
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