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Health, Health and Wellbeing, Mindset, Nutrition

Not all calories are created equally

Calories are often at the centre of our decision as to whether or not to eat a certain food. Many of us are counting our calories and many weight loss programs require you to do the same, but is it an effective long-term strategy? We would say no, for a number of reasons: It’s very […]

January 31, 2018/0 Comments/by Ritualize

Employee health, Health, Health and Wellbeing, Mindset, Stress

Be Kind To Yourself

“If your compassion does not include yourself, it is incomplete…” – Buddha We know that feeling compassionate towards others is a good trait to have. Feeling compassionate means we are aware and are moved by the suffering of others. Research is showing that being compassionate towards other can increase our well-being.The part of the brain […]

January 9, 2018/0 Comments/by Ritualize

Health, Health and Wellbeing, Mindset, Nutrition

Not all calories are created equally

January 31, 2018/0 Comments/by Ritualize

Employee health, Health, Health and Wellbeing, Mindset, Stress

Be Kind To Yourself

January 9, 2018/0 Comments/by Ritualize

Health, Health and Wellbeing, Mindset, Nutrition

Not all calories are created equally

We would say no, for a number of reasons:

It’s very time consuming, and not a realistic long-term strategy for most people.
Manufacturers are allowed up to 10% leeway when estimating calories in their products, so you may be eating more or less than you think.
Calorie amounts found on food labels are based on something called the Atwater system, which basically involves estimating the energy of foods by measuring the heat given off when it is burned. However, the accuracy of the system is strongly disputed – for example, a 2012 study by a USDA scientist concluded that the measured energy content of a sample of almonds was 32% lower than the estimated Atwater value. Furthermore, it is known that some calories are lost in waste, without ever having been chemically converted or stored. It is really just generally accepted as true because there is no better way to estimate calories from food at this point.
Calories from different foods are not all equal.

Calorie Inequalities

Professor Robert Lustig carried out a study. For example, you could eat a doughnut which is around 240 calories. The same calories are in a cup of avocado. One is a highly processed food and the other is picked off a tree. Same calories, same effect? Absolutely not.

With that in mind, let’s look at some examples of how the body breaks down, metabolises and uses food. The food contains the macronutrients fibre, protein, fat and carbohydrates.

Fibre

Nuts are high in fibre and there is some research to say that lean, healthy people tend to eat a lot of them. How can this happen given they’re high in calories? Let’s say you eat 160 calories in almonds. Because of the fibre in the almonds, some good things happen. First, the fibre keeps your blood sugar from rising too high, which keeps your insulin down. Secondly, the fibre bypasses the small intestine and goes intact to the large intestine and the good bacteria living there end up chewing it up instead of you absorbing them. So, even if 160 calories entered your mouth, only around 80% of those are actually available for you to absorb. This is because not all calories are created equal.

Protein

Digestion of food requires energy to create energy. This is called the thermic effect of food and protein requires over twice the energy to digest it if you compare it to fat and carbs.

Fat

Next, let’s look at the demonised fat. There are good fats and there are bad fats. Some fats are incredibly good for you and others will, over time, make you sick. Good fats are like omega 3s of salmon, flaxseed and walnuts or monounsaturated fat from avocado. Bad fats include trans fats which are found in many processed foods and junk food. Calories from fat are not all equal either.

Carbohydrates

Let’s look at carbohydrates. Like fat, there are good carbs and there are bad carbs. Like fat, there are good carbs and there are bad carbs. Good carbs from real, unprocessed food such as vegetables, legumes, fruit and whole-grains which are high in fibre. Refined carbohydrate is found in processed food, which is low in fibre. This is the reason the current western diet is low in fibre, which is a major factor as to why people are getting sick.

Ritualize has a simple approach to nutrition – we call it the 80/20 Lifestyle where 80% of your daily food intake is from real, whole food that was recently alive and 20% is your treat food. This approach means you don’t feel deprived, but maintain control of the treat food while getting all the nourishment your body needs to stay healthy.

January 31, 2018/0 Comments/by Ritualize

Employee health, Health, Health and Wellbeing, Mindset, Stress

Be Kind To Yourself

“If your compassion does not include yourself, it is incomplete…” – Buddha

Be kind to yourself

We know that feeling compassionate towards others is a good trait to have.

Feeling compassionate means we are aware and are moved by the suffering of others. Research is showing that being compassionate towards other can increase our well-being.The part of the brain responsible for compassion and empathy is the cerebral cortex. If it’s working well, we feel kindness, care and understanding for people.

Self-compassion is where compassion turns inward and those feelings of kindness and understanding are directed at ourselves at those times when we feel inadequate or if we fail rather than drowning ourselves with self-criticism. With 3 million people in Australia living with depression or anxiety, it seems self-compassion may be missing in a lot of lives. There’s good reason to be self-compassionate and science is showing us why.

A study at Duke University, Wake Forest University, and Louisiana University on self-compassion showed:

People who were self-compassionate tended to be more optimistic and had a tendency not to believe that their problems were worse than other people’s problems.
A person with a high level of self-compassion experiences the feeling of kindness towards oneself, and takes on a nonjudgmental attitude towards their own inadequacies and failures, recognising that experiencing those failures is normal.
People who were self-compassionate had less sadness, anxiety, and negative feelings.

Top 5 Ways to Feel Self Compassion

DO WHAT MORE OF WHAT BRINGS YOU JOY

Whether it’s playing with your dog, gardening or working out at the gym, so more of what makes you happy. Write a list of things that you enjoy so when you are feeling negative you can read the list and choose something that works for you.

PUT YOURSELF FIRST

Many of us spend time tending to the needs of others that we put ourselves at the bottom of the priority list. Putting self-care higher up the list will improve well-being and therefore improve our ability to look after others.

BREATHE

Deep breathing such as Box Breathing or any meditation practice calms the central nervous system, alleviating stress and anxiety.

EXERCISE

Exercise is not only physically good for us, but it taps into the emotional parts of the brain that trigger the release of ‘feel good’ hormones. You don’t have to sweat it out at the gym as even smaller, short bursts of exercise have a positive effect on our mood.

EAT WELL

When we are feeling down about ourselves we often crave high sugar and fat foods which release the hormone, dopamine, making us feel good in the short term. Our brains are wired to seed pleasure, so we turn to these foods to seek the positive feelings they bring. Research is showing a link between mood and food intake which can lead to health problems (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4150387/) Eating a balanced diet of plenty of vegetables, fruit, protein, good fat, complex carbs and fibre will curb the sugar craving and stabilise mood swings.

BE SOCIAL

Being around friends and family who matter most can have a positive effect on your mental and physical health. If you’re feeling negative thoughts about yourself, call a friend you can confide in or even just have a chat. Often speaking with other puts a different perspective on things.

January 9, 2018/0 Comments/by Ritualize

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Not all calories are created equally

Be Kind To Yourself

Not all calories are created equally

Be Kind To Yourself

Not all calories are created equally

We would say no, for a number of reasons:

Calorie Inequalities

Fibre

Protein

Fat

Carbohydrates

Be Kind To Yourself

Top 5 Ways to Feel Self Compassion

DO WHAT MORE OF WHAT BRINGS YOU JOY

PUT YOURSELF FIRST

BREATHE

EXERCISE

EAT WELL

BE SOCIAL

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