Upon returning from Thailand this week I got to thinking about the food that I’d eaten over the prior few weeks and how some people might be lured into the trap of believing that Thai cuisine is much healthier than it really is. It would be easy to see why, with its whole food, minimally processed ingredients, however, many of the cooking methods and ingredients used add tonnes of additional calories to some of the more popular dishes you will find at local restaurants and at street food stalls. Here is a brief food guide for those planning on travelling to the Land of Smiles. Let’s start with ..read more

Put your hand up if you’ve attempted a fad diet before. Don’t worry; there’s no shame in this as fad diets are so popular in Hong Kong and Singapore. You may have tried keto, low-carb, intermittent fasting etc. and experienced some ‘success’. However, you may have then regained all or most of the weight back. Sound familiar? Devastated by your lack of progress, you may have heard of the myth that 95% of diets fail, in which most people who diet end up regaining all the weight within a few years. While the 95% figure is a myth, there is research suggesting significant weight regain following w ..read more

Did you know that the human body contains at least as many bacteria as actual human cells?! We have bacteria on our skin, inside our mouth and nose – but the biggest number (and most nutritionally fascinating ones) are living inside our large bowel, often referred to as the gut microbiome. Don’t worry though, these bacteria are our friends and do incredible things for our health; they: Aid digestion Can produce vitamins for us to use Help to protect us from harmful bacteria Produce short-chain fatty acids, which have health benefits Your gut microbiome is incredible, and we know tha ..read more

Most people don’t understand that losing weight is fairly easy. I bet if I challenged you to drop a couple of kilograms in a few weeks you wouldn’t find it that difficult. Maybe you cut back on the dine out, reduce alcohol consumption, and walk a bit more than usual. That should have the desired effect. Now what if I told you that you had to keep that weight off for a year. How easy do you think that would be? What happens to these new healthy habits you’ve incorporated into your daily and weekly routines? We will most likely see an exponential decay of adherence, leading to weight regain. So ..read more

Are you ready to hear my list of foods to avoid for optimal health? Drum roll…….   1.      You don’t need to avoid any foods for health 2.      You don’t need to avoid any foods for health 3.      You don’t need to avoid any foods for health 4.      Etc.   As a sports nutritionist who is old enough and ugly enough to have seen these lists get generated week in week out for the past 15 years, I can say that the best thing you can do for your health is to avoid reading these lists. &nb ..read more

At a fundamental level, weight gain arises from an energy imbalance. Some weight gain is expected in certain populations, but why do we see runaway obesity statistics across the globe, including developed cities and regions such as Hong Kong and Singapore? It is a common misconception that only industrialised nations have this problem; however, many developing countries are now seeing dramatic increases in the rates of obesity. What was once a problem of the wealthy is now a global phenomenon that impacts all societies and social classes. But what is causing it? There are many misconceptions ..read more

DNA testing is all the craze in Hong Kong and Singapore. These testing kits claim to provide reliable scientific reports that tell you what diet you should eat for fat loss, muscle gain or health. The basis of these tests is that the food we eat can influence our genetic expression. For example, by eating a certain diet, you could potentially reduce your risk of type 2 diabetes. Some companies also claim that certain supplements could improve fat or weight loss. Cool right? While DNA tests are an interesting new area of research, it’s still early days. At the time of writing, there is no scie ..read more

Optimising post-workout nutrition means you can recover effectively and maximise training adaptations (i.e. build more muscle, run faster, be stronger). The current research recommends consuming 20-40g of protein within ~2 hours of completing your workout to maximise muscle protein synthesis, which is the process of building muscle. This guideline may be contrary to the 30-minute anabolic window you’ve heard of in the past. The ‘anabolic window’ refers to the period of time after training, where consuming protein can maximise muscle growth to the greatest extent. In reality, this ‘window of o ..read more

Heading off to a weight training or cardio session? Fuelling properly beforehand can help you get the most out of your workout. Carbohydrates help give us the energy to power through workouts, especially higher intensity training. So, it is advisable to consume some 1-3 hours leading up to your training. If you are eating relatively close to your workout, you may want to minimise fibrous carb sources such as beans, lentils and whole grains. While these foods are great for our health, they can cause gastric discomfort if consumed too close to a workout. Easily digestible carb sources, such as ..read more

Plant-based diets are gaining popularity in Singapore and Hong Kong, and restaurants are offering more vegetarian and vegan options for consumers – which is great! However, not everyone becomes a vegetarian based on an informed decision, that is, a decision based on facts and not myths. A common rationale for going vegetarian is that ‘meat is harmful for health’, and while the research does often show that vegetarians are healthier than meat-eaters, this is not solely due to the removal of meat. I would in fact argue that the reduction or removal of animal-based products only plays a small ro ..read more