A: There are lots of healthy sweet snacks that you can try but my favourite in season food at the moment is rhubarb. Rhubarb has many nutritional properties that have a positive impact on health. Rhubarb is one of the lowest calorie vegetables containing less than 10kcal per 100g, it contains vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals and is a great source of vitamin C to help fight the symptoms associated with colds and flu. So see what you can do with [...] Continue reading…

A: It is generally better for your health when you eat more foods that are considered healthy and less processed, salty, high sugar and high fat foods. Throughout the day you can enjoy a good balance of healthful fats, grains, lean protein, fruit and vegetables and dairy. Doing this means you are likely to eat quite similar to the recommendations outlined in the food pyramid, therefore, you should be getting the very important nutrients that your body needs. But healthy food [...] Continue reading…

A: I have recently been asked to give some information about gaining weight. In the media we are regularly bombarded with tips to lose weight and the next fad diet for miracle weight loss. These fad diets don’t actually work in the long term and shouldn’t be followed. But what about the people who need to gain weight? There is rarely any information provided for people who want to or need to gain weight. Ask yourself why You should firstly [...] Continue reading…

A: Making smoothies and juices are becoming more and more popular. As I previously mentioned, juicing is a great way to increase your intake of many important nutrients especially if you don’t really like vegetables. But the fibre is left behind when you make juice from fruits and vegetables. So what’s different about smoothies? Making smoothies with fruit and vegetables means you use whole fruit or vegetable. You also get many important nutrients, you generally feel fuller from smoothies and [...] Continue reading…

A: Juicing has become very popular and it is a great way to increase your intake of many important nutrients especially if you don’t really like vegetables. They can be extremely tasty, they are easy to make and they are nutritious. You can enjoy that feel good factor as you know you are feeding your body with nutrients and some people can even lose some weight. But when you juice fruit and vegetables the fibre is left behind as waste, and [...] Continue reading…

A: Again, there are some modifiable risk factors for blood pressure. This means you can change it. As I previously mentioned, if you are overweight or obese, reducing your target weight range may help reduce your blood pressure. Even a small weight reduction has been proven to reduce blood pressure. Too much salt in the diet is also associated with increased blood pressure. Sodium is the ingredient in salt that is linked with increased blood pressure. Try not to add salt [...] Continue reading…

A: High blood pressure is another modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular disease. This means you can modify or change it to reduce your risk of developing heart disease. According to the National Adult Nutrition Survey (2011) over 20% of men have systolic blood pressure that is higher than recommended. When diastolic blood pressure was examined 14% of adult men were hypertensive and a further 13% were high normal. All categories are higher than their female counterparts. You will regularly hear [...] Continue reading…

A: One modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular disease is overweight and obesity. According to the National Adult Nutrition Survey 44% of men are now overweight in Ireland and another 26% are obese. If you are male or female and have been told you are overweight or obese you should consider losing weight and talk to a health professional for guidance. To help you along your way you could try out the following helpful guidelines. Firstly, try to reduce the amount [...] Continue reading…

A: Men’s Health Month encourages men to engage in healthier lifestyle choices during the month of June. We want you to consider your own health if you are male or promote the health of your brother, father, son, grandfather and partners throughout the month of June. There are a number of health issues facing men. One of these is cardiovascular disease (disease of the heart) and it accounts for 10,000 deaths each year in Ireland. There are a number of non-modifiable [...] Continue reading…

A: Try to eat more foods that are rich in the vitamin including mackerel, tuna, salmon and eggs. Other foods are fortified (the vitamin is added) to help you get more. Fortified foods include some breakfast cereals and milk. Because we don’t get enough vitamin D in Ireland, everyone should take a supplement. Children and adults aged between 5 and 50 years should take 5µg of Vitamin D3 every day. Everyone aged 51 years and over should take 10µg of [...] Continue reading…