A: Vitamin D is called the sunshine vitamin. This is because when the sun comes into contact with our skin our bodies can make the vitamin. In Ireland, we don’t get enough of the sunshine vitamin for a number of reasons. 1. Depending on what part of the world you live your body will make different amounts of vitamin D because the sun is out more often and is stronger in different parts of the world. In Ireland, we generally [...] Continue reading…

A: Fibre is an important part of our diet but most of us don’t get enough. People often ask about the different types of fibre as some popular fad diets exclude some foods from the diet. There are two types – soluble and insoluble. Soluble fibre dissolves in water and insoluble doesn’t. Some foods like prunes contain both types of fibre. Soluble fibre forms a gel as it dissolves. The gel that’s formed slows down digestion and helps to keep [...] Continue reading…

A: People often wonder if fibre is really important, fibre is important for health. It can reduce the risk of coronary heart disease, stroke, hypertension, diabetes, obesity, and certain gastrointestinal disorders. Increasing consumption of fibre can lower blood pressure, improve blood glucose control in diabetes and aid in weight loss. We need about 25g every day. You can get fibre from many different foods. The foods found at the bottom of the food pyramid provide a lot of fibre. Such [...] Continue reading…

A: Hypertension (blood pressure) is a risk factor for heart disease and stroke. There are generally no symptoms for blood pressure so the only way to get diagnosed is to have it checked. This is why I try to do blood pressure checks for our customers. There are many different categories of hypertension and you should become familiar with these: Optimal <120/80 Normal <130/85 High Normal 130-139/85-89 Mild Hypertension 140/159 Moderate Hypertension 160-179/100-109 Severe Hypertension ≥180/≥110 When I do Blood [...] Continue reading…

A: When I’m doing my Blood Pressure Checks, one question comes up repeatedly: “Should I be reducing the salt or the sodium in my diet?”. It’s easy to understand why there may be confusion – some food labels highlight salt content while others display the amount of sodium. Salt and sodium are not the same. There is no salt without sodium but sodium is a naturally-occurring mineral that can exist on its own. Sodium is the ‘bad’ component in salt, [...] Continue reading…

A: At my Clinics, patients regularly ask me if they should reduce the amount of salt in their diet. It is a recorded fact* that people in Ireland eat more salt than we need – and this is before we add any salt at the table. The Food Safety Authority of Ireland has set an upper limit of 6g of salt per day for adults, above which we shouldn’t eat any more. (FSAI set an even lower limit for children). [...] Continue reading…

A: At this stage we have all heard that you need to eat ’5-a-Day’ to stay healthy. But I regularly get asked “what does that actually mean?” One important fact you should know is that the “5” in 5-a-day includes both fruits and vegetables. It is a mixture of the two and you should try to eat a variety of both. Each of the following fruits counts as one of your 5-a-day: One medium-sized apple, orange, banana, pear or peach [...] Continue reading…

A: Though many popular diet plans recommend minimising carb intake (in favour of high protein intake) I would not recommend drastic reductions in your carb consumption. Carbohydrates are an important part of your diet. Modern diets have given them a bad reputation by generalising and lumping all carbohydrates into one category. The fact is, there are different types of carbohydrates. Carbohydrates can be divided into two groups: complex carbs and simple carbs. Simple carbs such as white bread and sugary [...] Continue reading…

A: This is a popular question. People always say that you should slow down to lose weight. This is possibly due to the fact that you enjoy each mouthful, maybe you get bored or perhaps your food goes cold and you lose interest. By all means try this approach. Sit down, use cutlery, don’t have distractions like the T.V. and chew your food properly. There is no harm in slowing down the pace that you eat. If this approach helps [...] Continue reading…

A: A healthy active male needs about 2500 calories per day and a healthy active female needs about 2000 calories per day to maintain weight. The calculations A pound of fat (.45kg) has 2500 calories. So reducing your total week’s calorie intake by 2500 can help you lose a pound a week (in general, 0.5 – 2.0lb is a safe and realistic weekly weight loss target). Over 7 days, this is the equivalent of trimming 360 calories from your daily [...] Continue reading…