Amanda Clark is an Advanced Accredited Practising Dietitian at Great Ideas in Nutrition and creator of the Portion Perfection range. She’s kindly written a how-to for those wanting to get the best from her wonderful products.  If you've ever found yourself struggling with portion control or navigating the complexities of managing diabetes through diet, then the Porti-Prepper could become your new best friend.   It takes the guesswork out of portion sizes, allowing you to effortlessly divide your meals into perfectly balanced servings - in an easy to freeze, store and carry forma ..read more

PREP TIME 15 MIN   TOTAL TIME 35 MIN   SERVES 4 GREEN MISO DRESSING CHICKEN SALAD 2 garlic cloves 2 cm piece fresh ginger, peeled 2 spring onions/green onions, trimmed, cut into thirds 120 g fresh baby spinach leaves 60 g fresh coriander, stems and leaves, stems chopped into thirds 2 tbsp white (shiro) miso paste (see Tip) 2 tsp sesame oil 60 g fresh lemon juice 400 g chicken breasts, cut into 8 pieces 340 g asparagus, trimmed, halved lengthways 250 g snow peas, trimmed, halved lengthways 120 g frozen shelled edamame beans, thawed 180 g dried soba noodles 2 L ..read more

Comparing portions, serving sizes and serves By Dale Cooke Accredited Practising Dietitian Most people treat a whole apple as one serve, but if it was a processed and packaged food, the manufacturer might choose to call it one-and-a-half serves. Sounds silly, doesn’t it? But packaging serving sizes aren’t always logical. What is the difference between a portion, a serving size and a serve? Portion A portion of food is often considered how much we put on our plate, so different people will have differing habitual portion sizes and amounts. For example, my parents were big eaters and they would ..read more

Your eyes are at work from the moment you wake up, to the moment you close them to go to sleep. Your vision allows you to be aware of your surroundings, and 80% of everything you learn is through your sight.   For people living with diabetes, vision loss is a major complication. It can cause both short- and long-term eye problems. The risk of serious, more permanent eye problems increases when you have high blood glucose levels over a long period of time, or if your blood pressure or cholesterol levels are high. Other risk factors for eye disease include smoking, alcohol, diet, agein ..read more

It’s quite easy to feel hostage to your bed on those cold Winter mornings. The alarm goes off, but you hit snooze and you snuggle back under the covers. Likewise, as the sun starts to set and the temperature drops, your afternoon walk feels less appealing. So how can you maintain a regular exercise routine when the weather is a little cooler? With a few strategies in place, you can continue to stay fit, motivated, and warm. Dress for the weather Where possible, consider exercising outside the coldest parts of the day. However, if this is not possible, you will need to dress appropriately. This ..read more

Self-monitoring your blood glucose levels (BGLs) is an important part of managing diabetes because keeping your BGLs in target range helps lower your risk of diabetes-related complications. One of the most important, and often frustrating, factors in managing diabetes is understanding what makes your BGLs go up and down. Food, exercise, stress, medications and illness are just some of the things that can have an impact, which is why self-monitoring is so useful. It gives you the opportunity to check in with your body to see how you respond to different things. For example, has eating a certain ..read more

In theory, eating healthy food every day at the work or home office should be simple. Pack a healthy lunch and away you go. However, in reality it may not be that easy. Work stress and/or access to unhealthy foods, can easily sabotage our healthy eating habits and impact blood glucose levels. The good news is that there are ways to get around it. Here are 7 ways to make your workday healthy, when the fridge is in full view.   1. Pack a healthy lunchbox Preparing lunches for the week is one of the first ways to keep on track with health eating and saving money. There will also be less ..read more

If you have diabetes or know someone with diabetes, it may feel like you are packing for an Arctic expedition every time you leave the house! Unfortunately, when living with diabetes, you cannot simply leave the house with your keys, mobile and wallet/purse, there is so much more planning involved. Blood glucose meter, test strips, alcohol wipes, insulin, lancets, test strips, hypo kit.... the list goes on! When it comes to travelling, there is even more to consider including the correct storage and temperature of insulin.   So how can someone with diabetes remain organised and leave ..read more

If you have Type 2 Diabetes, have you ever considered what type of exercise is best for your blood glucose levels? The good news is that there is now evidence to suggest that both aerobic exercise training e.g. walking and resistance exercise training i.e. strength training, lead to improvements in blood glucose control. The study published in Medicine & Science In Sports & Exercise also found that a combination of aerobic and resistance training is even better and resulted in greater improvements!  How Does Exercise Help Us? Including regular physical activity is one of the found ..read more

If you live with diabetes you are at a higher risk of experiencing problems with your feet. This is because diabetes can damage the nerves and blood supply in your extremities, specifically your legs and feet. Nerve damage makes it hard to feel sensation in your feet which means you might not notice a pressure injury, blister, corn or callous. Pain is one way your body warns you that something is wrong, but a lack of sensation in your feet means the red flag of pain is not recognised. When blood supply to your feet is also affected it means any injuries or cracks in the skin that you experienc ..read more