Intr
oduction
As a nutritionist, one of the most difficult parts of my job is to get people to fully understand the significance and importance of how their diet impacts their long-term health. I have found that in recent years however, more and more people are beginning to appreciate the importance of good nutrition, though often get confused or mislead; usually getting their priorities mixed up. This is generally due to unreliable information provided by tabloid media, misleading marketing tactics used by food and supplement companies as well as all manner of of nutritional nonsense littering up the internet - often by well-meaning yet misinformed individuals.
Many people find themselves wondering which advise to take, and more and more people are looking for some kind of alternative solution to their nutritional and dietary needs. This confusion and ignorance has seen authors or fad diets books and sellers of supplements and other so-called "natural" health care products grow increasingly wealthy, as too many people are looking for the next miracle diets, pills, potions and other snake oils. Unfortunately there is little reason for anyone to provide factual scientifically accurate information to the public regarding nutrition.
The purpose of this web site is to provide accurate, reliable and easy-to-understand information on various nutrition related topics for other health conscious people . The most significant topics of interest on this site include maximizing the potential for longevity and quality of life, the best foods and dietary strategies needed to do so, as well as how to avoid nutritional nonsense, fads and fallacies.
Below is an index of the various sections of this web site. If you have any questions, please see the FAQ page or contact me by email.
If like me, you want to live as long as possible, then the most sensible thing to do would be to look at what is most likely to stand in your way of staying alive; namely, death. Therefore, it would be best to look at what kinds of things are statistically more likely to kill you. Although there are many things that could eventually cause you to die, life is somewhat a game of statistics. There is a never ending list of causes of death, but to give yourself the best possible odds, you should first look at those statistically most probable. In most westernized countries, the major causes of death are cardiovascular disease and cancer (see below). Read More....
Cardiovascular Disease
Cardiovascular Diseases (CVD) most commonly includes Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) and Stroke. Most cases of CVD occur due to the narrowing and hardening of the arteries (atherosclerosis) which eventually results in blockages and subsequent organ damage (often causing death). The good news is that many cases of CVD can be prevented through healthy diet and lifestyle choices. It is of considerable importance to realize however that although CVD generally affects us when we are older, it is affected by a life time of influences, as the atherosclerotic progress begins in our early adult years. Read More....
Cancer
Cancer occurs when healthy cells become abnormal and spread to other parts of the body, taking over and shutting down normal function of the organs. It is estimated that approximately 50% of all cancers can be prevented by healthy diet and lifestyle choices - some types more than others. Cancer is often the most feared of all major diseases, and many people seeking to avoid it may be misinformed about what things are most likely to cause it and what things are most likely to offer protection. Read More...
Quality of Life
Whilst living a long time is certainly important, the quality of your life is perhaps even more significant. Some of the most common health problems which make our senior years miserable include osteoporotic fractures and muscle degeneration (which leads to frailty), poor respiratory function, deafness, blindness and especially dementia and poor mental acuity. Whilst these things are not entirely within our control, there are at least some things we can do to decrease our chances of experiencing these problems. Read More....
The Top 10 Nutra-Smart Foods
These are the foods most likely to offer protection against ill health and diseases such as cancer and CVD. The include:
The Nutra-Smart Diet
This is simply a formulated example of how to use the 'top 10 foods' in appropriate proportions to provide a healthy balanced diet for otherwise healthy people. Read More....
Long-Term, Healthy Weight Loss
There is no secret to losing weight. Body fat is simply an accumulation of excess energy. To lose it, you must consume less energy (Calories) than what you expend through physical activity. Unfortunately, most people are looking for new, quick and effortless ways to lose weight, often spending enormous amounts of money on diets, schemes and products which do little good. Any hypocaloric diet program will make you lose weight. Whether it's the healthiest way of doing so and whether its realistically sustainable in the long run however are the most significant factors to consider. Read More...
Supplements
Most dietary supplements are nothing more than a waste of money. It is not difficult to obtain adequate levels of essential nutrients such as vitamins and minerals, and larger "mega" doses are generally worthless and potentially toxic. Furthermore, supplements only contain an infinitesimal number of substances found in food which are known to have disease-preventing properties.This page discusses some of the facts behind the supplement fads. Read More....
Myths, Fads, Fallacies and Nutritional Nonsense
There is a lot of nonsense out there when it comes to nutrition. This ranges from common misunderstandings and myths through to deliberately deceptive nonsense. This part of the web site aims to shed some light into the most common topics of nutritional nonsense such as food myths (including eggs, margarine & acne myths) bottled water, magic juices and cure alls, multilevel marketing schemes, (such as Youngevity) weight loss scams, (including ketogenic diets, supplements & meal replacements) pharmacy rip-offs, fear mongering hoaxes, (such as soy & fluoridation scares) food marketing deception as well as other commonly misunderstood topics. Read More....
Public Speaking & Media
I am an occasional guest speaker at various corporate, private and community events, and have been invited to comment on nutrition related topics on television, on several different radio programs as well as newspapers in the western sydney area. Additionally, I have written articles for various magazines and am a regular columnist for a Sydney newspaper and an online journal. Read More...
Frequently Asked Questions
Although I receive a lot of questions, many of them can be answered here. Read More...
Reliable Links
There are a lot of unreliable sites on the internet when it comes to health and nutrition. Not all of them are bad of course - here are those I recommend. Read More...
