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NourishEd - About Protein
Nutrition Advice

Is Protein the 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.

Nutrition Advice

To Eat or Not to eat the Chocolate

As Valentine’s day approaches, we may feel conflicted about eating chocolate. But chocolate can have many health benefits, eaten occasionally of course.

Chocolate is a mixture of cocoa solids, cocoa butter fat, milk, sugar and stabilisers like lecithin which help the main ingredients to form a solid mass. As if that didn’t sound like a bit of science, the cocoa solids give the chocolate its antioxidant properties, as they contain flavanols which are psychoactive organic compounds. And so, the higher the cocoa contents, the more of these antioxidants you’ll receive. Typically, dark chocolate will contain 45 – 90% cocoa solids and trace amounts of milk, while milk chocolate will have mostly milk and sugar, and between 10 – 32% cocoa solids (at least in the States). You may see vanilla included in the ingredient list, and that tends to round out the flavor and may lead to less sugar being added too. But there are some manufacturers who use cheaper alternatives to cocoa butter like vegetable oils and palm oil, and other additives to stabilize the product. Now although I like my KitKats, Cadbury, Agapey and Lindt, when it comes to quality chocolate, you want to see a very minimalist ingredient list. That’s the standard of chocolate, I’m talking about in this article.