HOW TO...EAT HEALTHILY WHEN CAMPAIGNING

Courtesy of News Thump  and licensed for reuse
 under this Creative Commons Licence

Ok occasionally but eat the veg!
 Courtesy the Guardian licensed for 
reuse under the Creative Commons licence

Elections are a hellish time for political activists trying to stay healthy while working ungodly hours.

There will be continual scrambles for food and unless you're disciplined or have the time for menu planning, meals can be disastrous for the waistline, not to mention the heart.

67 has been through one general election and two local elections and found these principles helpful:

1. increase protein  - you need it for brain work
2. increase intake of veg & fruit
3. have some carbs but don't overload on them
4. don't worry too much about good fats (see near top of editorial); they're needed to lubricate brain cells
5. treats are fine but keep portions small and exercise restraint; someone nearly always brings in more goodies the next day 
6. there will be occasions when the weight is falling off; when that happens, go with the flow and eat what you like!

A few other tips:

Preparation

• if you can, use the weekends to prepare and stock up on food which will make quick healthy portable meals.  Ask your mum or a  friend to help. 

• cook: ham hock, poached or roast chicken, brown rice, white rice, chilli.  Freeze in one-portion packets ( in sealable sandwich bags; portion size: 2-4oz/60-115gm for laydeez; 6-8oz/170-225gm, blokes)

• buy for the freezer/cupboard: frozen peas, corn niblets, tins of tuna and sardines, smoked mackerel

• buy as back-up: chicken thighs; either freeze individually OR cook (Tuscan Lemon Chicken) then freeze

• have on hand dressing ingredients: olive oil, Dijon & wholegrain mustard, white wine vinegar, balsamic vinegar, garlic and unsweetened plain yoghurt  

• spring, autumn,winter: make chunky soups; freeze in portable containers (see Big Chicken/Beef Soups)

• summer: make gazpachos, transport in thermos or portable cup

Sandwiches (See Skinny Sandwiches)

• Use TWICE the amount of filling you would normally use; sometimes a sandwich will be all you have time for

• Slice bread thinly; spread lightly with butter to the edges 

• If using fillings with mayo, line both slices of bread with dry lettuce to stop the filling making the sandwich soggy 

• If there is a canteen in the building, ask the manager if it's possible to fill the out-of-hours vending machine with sandwiches containing a double portion of filling (priced accordingly)

• A cheese sandwich is ok occasionally but add salad and thinly sliced apple or halved grapes

If caught on the hop

• when buying sandwiches, go for: wholemeal bread if poss, good protein plus salad or veg as filling e.g. hummus and carrot on wholemeal, chicken and salad on brown.  If you're worried about carbs, remove one slice of bread and have a half sandwich with double the filling

• tinned thick soups by reputable producers like Baxters, M&S or a trusted supermarket own-brand can be stored in a desk drawer for emergencies. 

• wraps/burritos are good but can have a lot of mayo & cheese

• sushi is lovely - if expensive - but go easy on the soy sauce

• pizza is fine occasionally but avoid stuffed crusts

• Chinese take out: ask for steamed rice; avoid sweet gloopy sauces 

Drinks

Tea and coffee are great for an energy burst but also try Balanced Smoothies (in the Drinks Section of Recipes on the Nav Bar) and these soothing and reviving drinks:

• Jasmine & Mint tea 
• Root ginger tea

Keep Nutrients Levels High

• Have a good breakfast.  A full English is perfect once a week and you won't get hungry 'til mid-afternoon.  
• Otherwise, try:

1. poached eggs with wholemeal toast, mushrooms & tomatoes 
2. Shakshuska (eggs poached in tomatoes & peppers) with w/m toast 
3. a wrap with scrambled eggs, mushrooms, avocado & a sprinkle of chilli
4. croissant stuffed with scrambled egg, mushrooms and ham

After a good breakfast, if lunch is delayed you should be ok for a few hours. Consider working through lunch & taking your break at teatime; it ought to be quieter.  

Other Tips:

• Form a cabal of 4 or 5 people and take turns providing lunch for each other; £1.50 each into a pool will buy the makings of a great meal  

• A tin of drained rinsed pulses, a tin of drained tuna and a container of M&S antipasti (sun-blush toms, artichoke hearts and olives) will feed 4 for £6 

• Freeze broths/stock in portable containers; take them to work for staving off hunger pangs 

• If mealtimes are delayed, don't be afraid to tell your boss that you need a 10-minute break; overdoing it could be devastating physically; you'll be no use to anyone then.  Eat something easy to digest: stock/soup/smoothie  but make sure your break is only ten minutes.  

• Invest in a lightweight stick blender to keep at work (the cheapest are about £10 (Morrisons); some come with their own plastic beaker for whizzing fruit & veg

• Invest in a nest of tough plastic lidded boxes (about £12 for 3 - 67's came from M&S) for salads and sandwiches 

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EDITORIAL: HOW MUCH CAN WE TRUST PUBLIC HEALTH ADVICE?

WRITTEN 2016

                    Some of the information in this opinion piece has been based on articles from the Times, the Independent, the Telegraph and the Mail

Last week, three health-related news stories appeared in the media; two contradicting conventional thinking on what is and is not healthy. 

The three stories involved:

• a paper from the National Obesity Forum (NOH) and the Public Health Collaboration (PHC) advising that a low-carb healthy-fat diet could cut weight gain and fight obesity
• an admission from the NHS that a 'computer glitch' led to patients being wrongly prescribed statins or taken off them
• a report published in the medical magazine Lancet concluding that too little salt is as bad for you as too much, and could cause heart attacks and strokes

While it was the report on obesity that caused the most hue and cry, all three stories begged the question: how much can we trust official health advice?

Buttery Scones

The 'natural fats are good for you' line of thinking has been around a long time.  It explains why, even in the fat-is-bad era, many chose to eat (reduced levels of) butter instead of margarines made from trans-fats (oils never intended to be in solid form, now mostly banned.) 



What was astonishing about the NOH/PHC paper paper was the howls of rage, the accusations and near-hysteria from public health officials.  

It is true that the obesity paper is a campaigning document and not a paper in a scientific journal.  NOH & PHC represent not nutritionists, but doctors, including specialists in cardiology and diabetes, and lifestyle entrepreneurs.  Some of the doctors are linked to diabetes research and the anti-sugar movement; a few are known as 'mavericks' though whether that's a good or a bad thing is not clear.

It is also true that conventional obesity advice is not working. 25% of British adults are clinically obese -- up 15% in the past 20 years.  Type 2 diabetes - directly linked to obesity - is rising steadily.  Doctors admit only 5% of the obese follow recommended advice.  Perhaps public health officials fear the other 95% will use the NOH recommendations to binge.

Even if a binging epidemic were likely, questioning official advice is still reasonable, especially if making fat a 'demon' drives people away from foods that are actually good for you.  And that is possible.   

The fat-is-the-enemy brigade is under pressure. The World Health Organisation (WHO)'s new position on fat is that there is no convincing evidence that the total amount of it in our diets can cause cancer or heart disease.  In America, even cholesterol has been downgraded as a risk in official guidance for heart disease.

In England in the past year, both Dr Mark Porter of the British Medical Association and Dr Michael Mosley, Times Columnist and TV medical presenter, have undergone low-carb, let's-not-worry-too-much-about-fats eating programmes.  Their reports indicate loss of weight and reduced cholesterol levels.  

In any rational setting, the NOH document and similar medical theories would be taken as a starting point for more scientific research.

The theory of 'good fats' goes like this: naturally occurring fats

in meat, fish, vegetable and seed oils and dairy, in moderation, can promote good health. (Blogger's emphasis)

Good Fats
courtesy Dreamstime.com stock photo

As a first step, officials need to define 'moderation' in a way that normal people understand.  

The media has taken the howling backlash in its stride; it reports but does not sensationalise it.  


Public health officials seem stubbornly resistant to new ideas and appear to reflect only entrenched attitudes.  One might think the policy and not the patients was first priority. 


Sadly, the news that 'a computer glitch' was responsible for prescribing statins to patients who didn't need them also reflects this mindset.  Some patients who refuse statins are browbeaten, blackmailed or threatened; there is little comfort in knowing they were probably right to follow their instincts.  

The research in the Lancet, meanwhile, is not the first to question the idea on which most public health advice is based: if high salt is bad for you, then little salt is good. Other large-scale research has concluded too little salt can be harmful.


This blog was set up to 'help the NHS'.  It believes people can improve their own health and ease the ageing process without great cost, helping to reduce medical intervention.   

After recent developments in the NHS and reactions from public health officials, one wonders whether the NHS and public health officials don't need to improve themselves.  


The answer to the question, 'how much should we trust public health advice?'  

Listen, be aware but keep an open mind.  Doctors genuinely want to make you better but are required to work within national guidelines.

People need to take more than a passing interest in health matters.  Yes, lives are hectic.  But start slowly; as years pass, knowledge and understanding accumulate.  

So.  Experiment; learn as much as you can from the responses of your own body; read as much as you can; question as much as you can.  And don't give up trying to make you and your family healthy.    


Note: 
In UK public health, so-called 'mavericks' are not forgiven.  John Yudkin, founder of the nutrition department at the University of London in the 1970's, linked sugar, not fat, to rising rates of heart disease and diabetes. His work was totally discredited and his career virtually ended. Only recently has his reputation been rehabilitated. 

  
Update 7 June 2016: Two weeks after the NOH report was released, it was reported that one of the report's authors advises the Atkins diet company, though it apparently had no input into the report or provided any funds. NOH Board members then said they had not seen the document before it was released and some did not agree with it. The NOH did not retract the report; four of the seven board members quit.  

See Also: Report on research into High Fat Diets and Weight Gain. Sarah Bosely, Health Editor, Guardian


SOURCES: 
The Times: Food Fight 
                 Ignore Advice
The Independent
The Mail
National Obesity Forum
Public Health Collaboration
BBC News: Health
The Telegraph




DISCLAIMER: The author accepts no liability for the consequences of any actions taken on the basis of the information provided.  Any information not sourced to a second party is the copyright of the blogger.