2020 - Nourish by CH - Nutrition & Wellbeing

How Our Diets Impact Sustainability – Insights From A Public Health Expert

You may be wondering what your everyday diet has to do with climate change… and…

Recipes

Celebrating Bajan Food during November!

I feel like I end up saying this phrase quite often to people, “In Barbados…”, and some random Barbadian fact comes out. Either about our customs, cuisine or just how everyday life is. I’m sure you can put two and two together to figure out I’m from Barbados. Yes, yes, that’s the island in the Caribbean where Rihanna is from. And NO, we are not all on the same landmass as Jamaica, but rather very far away in our little Caribbean Sea. November is the month of our independence from English rule, which ended in 1966.

As we celebrate our 54th year of independence, I’ve decided to share some Bajan delicacies with you all. Barbadian cuisine has evolved from African, Indian, European (English, Irish, Portuguese) and even South American influences. It’s delicious food and anyone who tells you otherwise doesn’t know what they’re talking about.
Now not every food is the ideal of healthiness (I’m looking at you fish cakes and souse) but keep in mind that food has a social, cultural and economic role aside from providing nutrients.
Hopefully, you can either try to make them at home or come to Barbados to experience them.

Nutrition Advice

Is Protein a super-nutrient I should be having more of?

I know it can’t just be me that has noticed this, but many common foods and recipes have been pushing the “high-protein” agenda for some time. And why is that? Should we be concerned about not having enough protein in our diet? More importantly, what is protein and do we need to include more in our day-to-day diets?
Protein is one of the three macronutrients the body needs to produce energy. Each gram of protein provides us with 4 calories of energy. I like to think of proteins as the builder macronutrient because it is one of the most important building blocks for the body. Proteins are made from hundreds of smaller molecules called amino acids, which can combine in a variety of ways to produce muscles, enzymes, hormones, immune cells, skin, hair and nails.
Although the body can recycle its protein through the breakdown of old protein to make new ones, it is not a perfect process. This is why having adequate amounts of good quality protein in our diet is important to carry out repairs, maintenance and growth.

Nutrition Advice

Should I avoid Carbs?

I always found it confusing when people said stuff like, “oh I have to cut down on bread to lose weight”. From a scientific perspective, bread is not super-charged with anything to cause weight gain. It’s definitely not like the magic bean that Jack had. If anything, bread is one of the most affordable staple foods capable of providing energy and micronutrients that you may not otherwise be getting. So, why do people think it’s making us fat? What about other starchy foods and sweet carbs? Today, we’ll talk a bit about the role of carbohydrates in global diets and hopefully, you’ll be able to determine if it’s the cause of weight gain.