Posted by kathryn in Snacking

• Home squeezed oranges: When your orange juice carton claims it’s home squeezed you have to think twice. Interesting article on how food manufacturers are trying to tap into the locavore movement. * Asparagus salad: Oh my. Just look at the salad on Stonesoup – asparagus, mozzarella, capers, buckets of herbs. I can’t think of many more heavenly ideas. * Falafels: For weeks now I’ve been craving good falafels. Moist, full of herbs and with a crunchy outside coating. ...

Read more 17 October, 2008

Posted by kathryn in Snacking

• Easy way with broccoli: There’s a big promise in The Wednesday Chef’s post on broccoli, but this is a super simple and great looking recipe. * Huevos Rancheros: Smitten Kitchen is a new blog to me, but I love the look of this recipe for the Tex-Mex dish huevos rancheros. * Indian spiced croquettes: I’m loving the idea of these spinach and pea tikkis from Quick Indian Cooking. And they’re grilled, not fried. * BBC’s food resource: There’s …

Read more 05 September, 2008

Posted by kathryn in Snacking

Today in 31 Days to a Better Diet I have a guest post from Shauna Reid of The Amazing Adventures of Dietgirl. Shauna’s wise words are about a different approach to the tricky subject of treat foods. There was once a time when the right time for a treat was any time and the right treat was any treat. That was one of the reasons why I wound up with 80 excess kilograms on my body. I’ve always believed …

Read more 26 August, 2008

Posted by kathryn in Snacking

• Being healthy at the office: I’ve been really enjoying following The Office Diet blog. It’s one of those rare sites which provides realistic and real advice, grounded in the practicalities of working in an office. I particularly like these five suggestions for making it easier to cook in the evening. * Salad for breakfast: I don’t know many people who eat salad for breakfast, but I really like this suggestion. And thanks to Sophie for pointing it out. ...

Read more 27 June, 2008

Posted by kathryn in Snacking

• Grow your own: Wendy from A Wee Bit of Cooking has been growing her own micro salad leaves. A tasty, fresh and highly nutritious addition to any salad. * Indian porridge: Porridge is such a good way to start the day. Low GI, filling and guaranteed to keep you going. I was intrigued by A Life (Time) of Cooking’s Indian style porridge. Flavoured with cardamon, cinnamon, nuts and palm sugar – what a delicious combination. * *Easy, healthy …

Read more 02 May, 2008

Posted by kathryn in Snacking

I was wandering the supermarket over the weekend, looking at cereal bars. A client had asked about the Special K Bars and I wanted to take a look for myself. h3. What are they? Made by Kelloggs, these snack bars are part of the Special K cereal range, they have a yoghurty drizzle and come in two flavours – original and mango & passionfruit. They’re popular because each bar is low in fat (1.2g), carbohydrate (17.9g) and energy (419 …

Read more 05 September, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Snacking

Day seven of 31 Days to Better Energy and today’s task is to have a healthy snack this afternoon. h3. Why? Generally I find most people need to eat about every four hours. After that, your blood sugar levels start falling and you’ll feel tired and have difficulty concentrating. Despite this I’ve also noticed many people think they shouldn’t eat anything in the afternoon. The belief seems to be, once you’ve had lunch, that should be enough before dinner. However, ...

Read more 07 August, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Snacking

Do you eat really well all morning, have a good lunch and then fall into a nutritional hole in the afternoon? People know about the importance of breakfast and most have lunch, but then around 3pm your energy slumps and the cravings start. It’s the time of day when you raid the biscuit tins, the vending machine or any chocolate in the office gets sniffed out and rapidly consumed. Does this sound like you? This is a common phenomenon and …

Read more 20 June, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Snacking

In amongst the anti-fruit-juice posts this week, Andrew asked whether vegetable juices were any different? We tend to lump fruit and vegies together in our heads and nutritionally they do have similarities. However there are a number of key differences, which makes including both of them in our diet important to our health. It also means that vegetables are a much better juicing option. While some vegetables have really good levels of vitamin C (think capsicum and anything green …

Read more 04 April, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Snacking

While we’re on the subject of juice , under the heading Juice – it’s a health miracle , Weighty Matters points out the effectiveness of marketing by the juice industry. Here in Australia, just think about how ubiquitous ads, instore promotions and marketing are by the big juice companies: Just Juice, the Daily Juice Company, Berri and so on. While at the Diet Dish , Cynthia Sass discusses a UK article stating it’s not uncommon for the average woman …

Read more 28 March, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Snacking

A while back Cooking Chat asked a question in the comments on my post about antioxidant supplements – are juices a good way to get your daily fruit serves? I can totally understand the attraction of juice – they’re sweet, easy to consume, tasty, no fussy cutting up or messy fingers at the end, you can buy them anywhere and they’re made from fruit, so they must be good for you? However, it’s not that simple. Fruit is part of …

Read more 28 March, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Snacking

Great little post from Dietgirl about the munchies. Are you a person that walks in the door from work, opens the fridge straight away and starts pilfering around for food? It’s been hours since lunch, you’re not sure what you’re looking for, you just want something . Those cubes of cheese, few olives, spoonfuls of dip and handfuls of crackers can really add up kilojoule-wise and if you’re trying to lose weight, it’s these habits you need to question. If …

Read more 23 February, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Snacking

Reports on the news and in the papers yesterday about the latest Choice report – this time into kids’ snacks. The foods listed in the Choice study are all targeted and marketed to kids and their parents and most of them are also promoted as being healthy, however they’re shockers. I’ve talked before about the problems with kids’ food , ie foods that are branded, marketed and promoted to children. Once you look past the dodgy marketing claims, they’re simply …

Read more 23 January, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Snacking

As if to illustrate my point exactly, slap bang in the middle of the back page of today’s Herald , is this headline “Fair Dunkin’! Guilt-Free Doughnuts” : bq. Is this the future of indulgence? Our picture shows a box of doughnuts from the Doughnut Plant, on New York’s Lower East Side. They look evil, but are trans-fat-free and all natural. They may well be trans fat free, but THEY’RE STILL DOUGHNUTS . Which means they’re still packed full of …

Read more 17 January, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Snacking

In a similar vein to my _ what actually is five serves _ post, Columbus Foodie has pointed me to a series of pictures on Wisegeek, called what does 200 calories looks like. To put this in some context, 200 calories is the old money equivalent of 836 kilojoules. Depending on your height and activity level, if you’re a women you need between 7,600 and 10,000kJ per day. Whereas men will need 9,400 – 14,000kJ per day, to maintain your …

Read more 08 January, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Snacking

As you may know, I’m a big fan of legumes. I’ve blogged about their health benefits , how to cook them and also included them in quite a few of my recipes . The latest GI newsletter has a good article on soybeans. While tofu, miso and tempeh are all foods I eat regularly, I hardly ever cook soybeans – mainly because they take a lot longer to cook than most other beans and can taste a bit mealy. However …

Read more 02 January, 2007

Posted by kathryn in Snacking

News in the herald this morning of a Choice report into cereal and muesli bars. While they’re easy and convenient – they aren’t a great snacking choice. h3. What’s wrong with cereal bars? While cereal and muesli bars are often marketed as healthy, they’re rarely a good snacking option. Choice found: * most contain more than 20 percent sugar * some have more saturated fat than a packet of chips. Of the bars Choice tested * seven contained more kilojoules …

Read more 26 September, 2006

Posted by kathryn in Snacking

From the Sydney Morning Herald website, an interesting food definition, ultimate snack food. This is apparently a new snack which has been developed by Melbourne scientists. It’s a palm-sized parmesan cheese cracker, topped with organic mashed potato which contains two “natural” additives – an appetite suppressant and a natural compound that increases your liking of the product. Am I the only one that thinks this sounds horrendous?

Read more 03 July, 2006