Susie’s Tips for the week ahead
For those of you who saw the slightly misleading article titled “Why exercise doesn’t work” featured in The Weekend Australian magazine, I would be interested in hearing your thoughts –

The article, quite possibly written by a journo who doesn’t like to exercise, discussed the physiological effect of intense exercise increasing appetite which may mean that doing the activity is useless as we eat more to compensate, as well as pointing out that many fat people exercise. What the article failed to mention was the fact that we do not necessarily need to “exercise” like an Olympic athlete for weight control, we just need to move. The human body is built to move a lot more than we do and modern life is doing everything in its power to see us move less and less.  Some of most interesting data on weight loss comes from the US Weight Loss Registry which features >5000 people who have lost > 5 kgs and keep it off for >12 months. And, one of the most common habits of these losers is that they move every day for an hour - http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/guide/4-keys-weight-loss-success?page=1. For me, that is a much more telling tale.

Recipe Update
To celebrate the turning of the seasons, I have updated all the recipes on my website with some fresh, light options – enjoy – www.susieburrell.com.au

Product of the week: Nestle All Natural Yogurt - http://www.nestle.com.au/Products/Dairy/NESTL_All_Natural_Yogurt/NESTL%c3%89_All_Natural.htm

Our food companies are finally getting the message that we no longer want heavily processed, artificially sweetened foods and we much prefer the real things as they tend to be tastier options that keep us full. This is a great, thick style yogurt perfect for morning tea or shared between two for dessert

Food Tip of the Week:  What the supermarket shelves tell you
Next time you are at the supermarket, I want you to check out the shelves and notice how the biggest selling brands occupy the entire middle section of the shelves, which often skews our purchasing towards the most advertised and powerful brands. Many healthier alternatives, made by smaller, local companies occupy the health food sections or side and bottom shelves in the supermarket and need you to get your supermarket sleuth hat on to track them down. So, when choosing your cereals, biscuits and snacks, it will help if you look around the shelves to get a wider, often-healthier range of options.

Your Body: Get outside!
For those on the south side of earth (so sorry to Qld), now day light savings has begun you have no excuses to not get outside during the evening to go for a walk. If you live near the water, dusk is a perfect time for a beach walk or even a street walk with the dog, kids, husband or friend is enjoyable on a balmy evening.

 
Recipe of the Week: Prawn and mango salad – Welcome back mangoes!
2 mangoes, sliced
100g snow peas
24 cooked king prawns, peeled and de-veined
300g reduced-fat natural yogurt1 tsp fish sauce
1 tsp brown sugar
Finely grated rind of 1 lime
Cos/Mixed green lettuce
1 Lebanese cucumber

Combine yogurt, fish sauce, sugar and refrigerate. Assemble remaining ingredients between serving plates and drizzle with yogurt dressing.  Serve immediately.

Your Life: Susie is: wondering to Facebook or not to Facebook?
If you are not obsessed by it, you will know someone who is – Facebook. A narcissist’s dream site; dedicated to the self indulgent act of sharing your personal hopes, dreams and actions with anyone who is interested, or tracking down those from your past to see where they are and what you are up to. I too, have been lured into this false self-created reality and now, after the initially novelty (and many hours wasted!) is starting to wear off I am questioning how good an idea it is to spend hours dwelling on the past? A fact that was pointed out by someone very close to me who bluntly stated that he does not have time to write to me on Facebook and if he wants to speak to me, he will just call!

Life is a dynamic energy system, constantly changing and moving forward and it could be thought that back tracking through the past in hope of finding something of interest is actually preventing us from getting on with our future, or as Marianne Williamson so aptly stated, “our past is a story existing only in our minds. Look, analyse, forgive and as quickly as possible chuck it” or from Dr Suzy – www.drsuzy.com.au - “It is far better to have a few quality friendships where you make time to tend them (ideally face-to-face rather than facebook!) - rather  than investing the same or more time in developing numerous superficial friendships!  In a world where we tend to be quantity driven - I think a focus on quality over quantity applies both to food and friends!”…Here, here

Enjoy your week-

“Life is too short to drink cheap champagne” (also Dr Suzy)

Susie Burrell
Dietitian/Nutritionist
Susie@susieburrell.com.au
www.susieburrell.com.au