Zoë's Food Blog

It doesn't make any sense that governments are always bringing out new health programs for schools, changing the health guidelines (apparently we're now meant to eat 7 portions of fruit and veg a day) and preaching about how we all need to do more exercise when actually this is all quite hard when healthy food costs an arm and a leg! It's ok for the portion of the population who have stable full-times jobs as they can afford organic, nutrient rich and unprocessed foods but even then that doesn't always work out as often their jobs are stressful enough that it resorts to binging on fast food diets. In reality, the other part of the population- those who are unemployed or don't have the qualifications to get a well paid job don't have the chance to eat healthily all time, especially when there are fatty and sugary foods for half the price. So here we are getting fatter and fatter. But hang on it doesn't look like we're completely doomed; there'...

Because I'm doing a triathlon in June I thought it would be a good idea to look into what's advised to eat, because one of the things I'm worried about is having enough energy for all 3 sports all the way through. (Information from 'Sports Nutrition For Endurance Athletes' by Monique Ryan) Triathlons became really popular after the Olympics in Sydney and a full triathlon is commonly known as an Ironman (2.4mile swim, 112mile bike, 26 mile run). Although the distances do vary so in terms of nutrition it's important that it's specific to the distance you are training for, as you can imagine an Ironman will come with extreme nutritional consideration. It's also important to consider the environment as it's common to do triathlons in hot countries which brings issues of dehydration and electrolyte depletion. Electrolyte depletion: We commonly loose electroltes through perspiration. Electrolytes are chemicals that form electrically charged ions i...

Sharon fruit or otherwise referred to as a Persimmon is one of those fruits that aren't very well known, but in turns out that they have a surprisingly high nutritional value: 55% of our daily recommended intake of vitamin A- Vitamin A is essential for fighting infections, and for the health of eyes and skin. 21% of our daily recommended intake of vitamin C- Again this is mainly essential for maintaining a strong immune system. High amounts of Manganese - Good for protecting against lung and mouth cancers. High Fibre content-  Aids digestive processes "Persimmons are one of a few foods associated with killing breast cancer cells without harming normal breast cells, according to one new study. Scientists attributed this to the flavonoid fisetin, present in several fruits and vegetables, but in persimmons specifically. Fisetin also has been named as a significant contributor in the programmed eradication of colon and prostate cancer cells" From http://foodfa...

I found this article in the vegetarian society magazine that looked interesting, it's about the connection of dietary acid and diabetes. The article begins with explaining that different foods contain varying amounts of acid; in particular, animals products such as meat, fish and dairy are highly acidic whereas fruit and veg are low. Therefore most of us following the typically western diet will be consuming foods that are highly acidic and this as you can imagine is bad because a lot of acid will be harmful to the body. It specifically mentions a condition called Chronic Metabolic Acidosis, which is something anyone who has a high acidity diet can develop; thus leading to further problems such as kidney stones, high blood pressure (hypertension), loss of bone density and diabetes. There was a study carried out involving over 65000 women investigating this link between acidity and diabetes. The health checks and questionnaires the women completed showed evidence that women wh...

So I'm not really sure where to start so I thought I'd look into something than I have a personal experience with and that's shin splints. I know I got mine from excessive netball which is a particularly high-risk sport for developing shin splints due to the constant impact from landing. Therefore other high impact sports such as running, where there is constant pressure on joints will also include a high risk of developing shin splints. To be more scientific shin splints occurs at the tibia, which runs down the inner part of your shin:  The NHS state that one of the most common causes of shin splints is Medial Tibial Stress Syndrome (MTSS), which occurs when the connective tissue covering the shin bone becomes inflamed from a result of excessive strain or pressure; basically MTSS is the fancy name for shin splints. This process can be further enhanced if the athlete trains too hard too quickly and doesn't gradually increase the intensity of what t...