Obesity – Page 2 – Claire Baseley

20th October 2016

Published by claire at 20th October 2016

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Healthy eating

Is your office cake culture taking the biscuit?

With a birthday, engagement, wedding, promotion or a return from holiday being virtually a weekly occurrence across the country’s offices, is our traditional way of celebrating, with sweet treats, harming our health? I visit many offices as part of my work as a freelance nutrition consultant and while many provide fruit bowls, virtually all of them have a ready supply of cakes, biscuits or sweets, often on several days of the week because there has been a reason for someone to bring them in. When running health workshops, many employees tell me that while they know it’s bad for them, when unhealthy snacks are sitting next to the fruit bowl in the office, they find it almost impossible to […]

22nd August 2016

Published by claire at 22nd August 2016

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What happened to the Childhood Obesity Strategy?

The recently published Government report on Childhood Obesity made for disappointing reading for most health campaigners with criticism being levelled at the reduction of a 50-page document to 10 pages of suggestions and proposals, issued in the parliamentary recess, in the middle of the Olympics, while ministers were away and therefore unable to discuss the content in parliament. Overall, there were numerous key omissions versus last year’s Public Health England recommendations, notably on supermarket price promotions and marketing but also in the area of early years’ nutrition. Why is this important? PHE’s evidence-based report showed that marketing, whether via TV, brand characters, advergames or product placement within the supermarket, can influence children’s food preferences in favour of less […]

26th October 2015

Published by Claire at 26th October 2015

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The taxing matter of sugar reduction

“We are eating too much sugar and it is bad for our health.” And so begins Public Health England’s much publicised report on how to reduce the nation’s sugar consumption. Their recommendations are welcome: nutritionists and dietitians have known for some time that foods high in free sugars (refined sugars added to food and those naturally present in honey, fruit juices and the many natural sweeteners like agave, maple syrup and malt extract) contribute to weight gain and should therefore be consumed in moderation. The more difficult question is how we go about reducing sugar intake across the population. The debate has been largely overtaken by the focus on the sugar tax, not least because of the support from […]

25th April 2013

Published by Claire at 25th April 2013

Categories

Healthy eating

Celebrity Chefs – Mealtime staples or just for treats?

Today’s Telegraph article Celebrity Chefs – Are they making us ill? reveals, from my recipe analysis, that the meals we make after watching our favourite chefs on TV or reading their books may not always be all that healthy. I analysed a range of recipes, from indulgent desserts like chocolate hazelnut cheesecake to mealtime staples like shepherds’ pie. While you might expect a Nigella dessert to be loaded with sugar and fat, which is fine once in a while, you may be more surprised to find a fail-safe family favourite like shepherds’ pie to contain over 100% of the guideline daily amount for saturated fat in one serving. Much as the evidence linking saturated fat to heart health […]