Published: Wednesday, 19th May, 2010 4:30pm

Treat of the Week

Anyone who knows me knows how much I love my food. Indeed, I have been ribbed that my excitement for a chocolate cake on a Friday or a fancy dinner outweighs a lot of things in my life, but after a recent stressful spell left me severely run down, I thought it was time to call in the professionals to take a look at my nutrition. You are what you eat after all, as Athlone nutritionist Lynda McFarland was about to show me!

Firstly, I kept a food diary for three days, a bit of an eye-opener to be honest, before handing it over to Lynda for her judgement.

Lynda's Verdict

You seem to make an effort to include fruit and veg each day which is great, your lunches and evening meals are quite good. There does seem to be a bit of a pattern going on though, where you are reaching for sugary foods/chocolate in the afternoon or evening. It would seem that your blood sugar is unbalanced and I would suspect this is as a result of your breakfast choices, you are having refined carbohydrates and fruit juice without any protein - it is important to include protein in each meal and especially at breakfast as it helps slow down the release of sugar from carbohydrates into the bloodstream thereby helping to balance your blood sugar levels and prevent cravings later on in the day.

The low GI diet is one that I recommend and one that I think would work well for you in terms of blood sugar balance in the body. The aim would be to have consistent energy and mood without the need to reach for sugary snacks. Some good breakfast options for you would combine good quality protein with good complex carbohydrates, for example a boiled egg with wholemeal bread preferably spelt as it contains less gluten and is therefore easier to absorb the nutrients from and to digest or a smoothie containing ground seeds and nuts for protein and good unsaturated fats. Porridge or sugar-free muesli topped with a sprinkling of cinnamon which helps to regulate blood sugar levels and some chopped nuts and ground seeds is also another good option.

I would love to see you choose more wholesome snacks throughout the day like maybe, fruit with some nuts, again as a source of protein to help balance blood sugar, some peanut butter on oatcakes maybe or hummus with a wholemeal pitta or a smoothie, or perhaps homemade banana bread.

A salad or a soup at lunch is a great way to get some veggies in and two to three servings with your evening meal will help you achieve the recommended amount of fruit and veg, which the World Health Organisation is now saying is closer to ten just after we've all gotten used to the five a day!

I would recommend substituting herbal teas for some of your daily coffees and limiting the coffee to one, choose the one you enjoy most. Coffee is something which also interferes with our blood sugar levels. Also ensure you are drinking a minimum of 1.5 litres of clean water, between meals not with, as it can affect absorption and digestion of your food.

One final tip, I always recommend choosing natural probiotic yoghurt e.g. Glenisk and sweetening it yourself with some chopped fruit, berries or a little honey and cinnamon.

Cookery Demonstration

The brilliant thing about Lynda's advice is that she can show you how to put it into practice with a cookery demonstration, as she did for me specifically targeting my problem area - breakfast. With aprons on, first on the menu was a great vegetable juice, complete with beetroot, apple, ginger and carrots to get me zinging! Although a bit apprehensive at first how beetroot with apples would taste, this was actually gorgeous and really did wake me up.

Next, she made up a fabulous smoothie, another brilliant way to start the day with something sweet and good for you. A few walnuts, seeds, honey, cinnamon, handful of frozen berries and rice milk and hey presto!

Granola is another thing that will keep you going till lunchtime, Lynda remarked as she showed me how to make a homemade batch for the week, complete with oats, seeds, coconut, a little bit of honey, butter and some mixed nuts. Throw it to the oven for 20 minutes and bung on the natural yogurt afterwards and it's a sweet treat that kept the hunger pangs out of the way until lunchtime. "It's all about changing habits. When you cook from scratch you know what you are eating," Lynda enthused, before the ending the session with a fabulous goats cheese and red onion omelette.

Clearly, a bit of organisation and getting up a few minutes earlier in the morning to have a proper nutritional breakfast will yield dividends for me in the health stakes, so armed with the good advice I headed off to put it in to practice!

Lynda McFarland from The Food Clinic is available for one-to-one nutritional consultations in Athlone, Roscommon or Dublin, she also gives cookery classes in Dún na Sí in Moate and Planet Life in Athlone or to local groups or individuals. She will a hold a nutritional seminar and cookery demonstration entitled 'Food for the Brain' on Wednesday, May 26 in the Shamrock Lodge Hotel at 7pm. Tickets are €15 or €10 for students or old age pensioners. For further information check www.lyndamcfarland.com or call Lynda 087 7927471.