Eat yourself Happy - Introducing Jen and Jessica from Expert Eats

We are thrilled to announce that Mindfull Aus and Expert Eats have joined forces to promote the importance of eating well for mental health. Through this partnership, we aim to empower people to make informed choices about their food and understand the link between what we eat and how we feel.

Expert Eats co-founders, Jen and Jessica, bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to the collaboration. With Jen’s culinary skills and Jessica’s expertise as a dietitian, they are the perfect team to guide us on our journey towards a healthier mind and body.

We believe that every little bite counts, and we hope to inspire you to make small changes that can have a big impact on your mental health. We will be sharing a range of tips and tricks to improve your diet.Contact us or visit our website for more information.

2. Mood Food - What you eat affects how you feel

The food you eat everyday can affect your mood and mental health. Scientists from across the world have found that people who eat a well-balanced diet can prevent poor mental health and improve mood, anxiety and depression. On the flip side, people who eat a highly processed diet that is low in fibre, and high in fat, sugar and salt, are more likely to have poor mental health, including anxiety and depression.

Eating patterns are one thing we can change to improve our mental health, even if you have a pre-existing mental health condition. Below are 5 mood food tips to get you started.

Mood Food tips

Eat regular nutritious meals and snacks throughout the day. Skipping meals can make you feel tired, anxious and even “hangry”.

Include a wide variety of colourful fruit and veggies - different coloured plant foods contain different nutrients, fibre and antioxidants to keep your immune system and brain working well.

Eat whole grain foods. By choosing grainy bread, wholegrain breakfast cereals, and unprocessed grains, like brown rice, barley and oats, you include more fibre and nutrients in your diet, which is essential for keeping energy levels and your mood up.

Drink water as your main drink. Most of your brain is water, which means that if you are dehydrated your cant think properly and your mood can be affected.

3. Love your guts…it is your second brain!

Did you know your gut is like a second brain? It turns out that the old Australian saying "You have more guts than brains" might actually be true. Your gut might not be able to tell you where you left your keys, but it is important for sending important messages around your body.

Your bowel or gut does more than just digest your food and remove waste. It's home to over 100 million nerves and trillions of incredible gut bugs, known as the microbiome. Your gut and brain are in constant communication through these nerve cells and chemical messengers produced by the gut bacteria. This ongoing conversation covers digestion, appetite, pain, and even emotions. Surprisingly, over 90% of the "happy hormone" serotonin is actually produced in the gut, influencing mood, sleep, digestion, appetite, and even libido.

What we eat directly impacts the health and function of our gut bugs. They thrive on fibre, which is why eating a diverse range of plant-based foods is crucial for gut health. Without fibre, our gut bacteria can't produce essential nutrients and chemicals that our bodies need for physical and mental well-being. This is believed to be one reason why individuals who consume highly processed foods lacking fibre are at a higher risk of experiencing poor mental health and depression.

Here are some top tips for including “prebiotics” to feed your gut bugs and keep your gut and brain healthy:

Eat a variety of high fibre foods such as coloured fruits and vegetables, whole grains, nuts, seeds, and legumes in your meals.

Add fibre foods into your diet slowly, especially if you don’t normally eat them.

Drink plenty of water each day.

Try to limit highly processed foods i.e packet foods with lots of long words on the ingredient list or that don’t look like they did on the farm!

Meal skipper? Salad dodger? Your eating patterns do matter

Your eating patterns are shaped by many things - culture, family life, personal preferences, or how late you are for work…

Developing and keeping good eating habits is key to mental health. This doesn't mean eating a low carb, high protein, low fat, high veg, low taste, high effort diet! No, it just means eating tasty, nutritious foods that contain lots of the good things and less of the rubbish.

Research has shown that by eating a high quality diet you are less likely to develop common mental health disorders, such as depression and anxiety.

In Australia, we rely on more processed and packaged foods, fast food and sugary drinks, which are high in saturated fats, refined sugars, salt and added chemicals. These foods have been found to increase chronic inflammation in the body and lead to poor mental health and an increased risk of chronic disease.

What is an example of good eating patterns?

A Mediterranean style diet is the gold standard of healthy eating habits. People who follow this type of eating have been found to have better mental health than people who eat a Western style diet.

They eat,

regular meals and snacks, including mostly fruit and vegetables, legumes, nuts and seeds, cereals with limited processing, fish and seafood.

less red meat and dairy,

small amounts of processed foods, such as takeaway and packet snacks and sweet drinks.

plenty of extra virgin olive oil and the occasional glass of red wine.

with the seasons, share meals together and are active everyday.

So it’s time to get back to our traditional eating patterns, and get back to the basics!

Footy/Netball Season fuel - what to eat for peak performance?

It’s goal kicking season…or if you're in the back pocket, goal stopping season! Either way, you need to up your game and be awesome. We are here to tell you that your diet can help you perform better, both physically and mentally.

All elite athletes follow special diets to get the most out of their abilities, but for weekend athletes, nutrition is still important. Here is the kicker, you don't always need the expensive powders, capsules and special drinks that claim to boost your energy, oxygen levels or muscle growth and repair. The truth is, eating real food is your best way to improve performance and win the match.

To get the most out of your amazing body, you need to eat enough energy and nutrients from everyday foods, such as from whole grain breads and cereals, lean meats, dairy, fruit, and vegetables. These provide the carbohydrates, protein and fats to power your body and help with recovery. Your nutritional needs, as a sports star, will depend on many different things including age, gender, weight, height, training schedule, duration of activity, intensity of exercise and the type of sport.

Below are some tips to help get the best out of your game

Training Foods - For longer training sessions, you need to eat enough carbs, as this is the main source of fuel, and protein, for repair and recovery of your muscles. At least an hour before training, try to have a snack that is easy to digest , such as fruit toast, fruit smoothie, small bowl of pasta with tomato based sauce. After training, small amounts of protein can help with recovery, such as eggs on whole grain toast, dried fruit and nuts, or yoghurt and granola.

Hydration - keep your fluids up both during training and during a game. Water is your best choice, however sports drinks can be helpful if you need extra carbs.

Eating before the game - Increasing the amount of carbs at each meal prior to a game can help your energy stores. This might mean an extra piece of fruit on your muesli for breakfast. Try to eat your last main meal 3-4 hours before the game.

Food during the game - Quick release carbs, such as sports drinks, fruit, or even a carbohydrate mouth rinse can be useful during a high intensity event or for prolonged exercise to keep energy levels up.

Recovery - As with training sessions, eating a small meal that contains both carbs and protein is important to replenish stores. Flavoured milk, sandwiches/wrap with tuna/meat and salad, baked beans on toast or a healthy pizza with meat and veggies.

For more information go to https://www.sportsdietitians.com.au or recipes, Australian Institute of Sport website https://www.ais.gov.au/nutrition/recipes

Fasting - Is it a fast fix?

Intermittent fasting or regularly skipping meals has a lot of hype at the moment but is it really the right eating pattern for you?

Throughout history, people have gone without food for various reasons, but these days food is everywhere and easily accessible. Most of us eat whenever we feel like it and often over a 14 hour period during the day. Intermittent fasting focuses on when you can eat, rather than what you eat, and limits your eating to a 6-8 hour window (fasting between 12-18 hours).

For some people, such as young people or those who have health issues like diabetes, skipping meals is not always the best way to eat. It can cause low blood sugars, increase stress hormones, make it difficult to concentrate and can create feelings of anxiety and anger. Going for long periods of time without food can cause both physical stress and affect mood.

Eating regular meals is still important for most of us. We just need to listen more to our bodies, eat when we are hungry and stop eating when we’re satisfied. Although some studies have shown that fasting for 12-18 hours has some health benefits like lowering blood pressure, inflammation and blood sugar control, it's important to remember that what you eat probably matters more than when you eat.

Before trying intermittent fasting always speak with your health professional

Whole grain is not a dirty word (sung to skyhooks melody)

As Australians, we are not eating enough grainy foods. In fact, a recent study found most Aussies don’t prioritise eating whole grains and think carbohydrate foods are unhealthy.

Sure, highly refined carbohydrates that contain added sugar, fats and chemicals can be cut back, but whole grains are the good guys and need to be included more in our diets. The reality is, whole grain foods are super important for our body and brain.

Most Aussies are still not eating enough fibre in their diets through wholegrains, fruit and veggies and should be aiming for 25-30 grams of fibre per day. Eating a high fibre, balanced diet is not only important to help move what goes in to come out, but also has a major impact on good gut health and a happy gut microbiome (or happy gut garden).

Eating high fibre in our diets has more benefits to our bodies and overall health than just having a good poo! Enjoying a varied diet of whole grains, which include insoluble and soluble fibre and resistant starch, can reduce high blood pressure, lower cholesterol, maintain blood sugar (glucose) levels and reduce the risk of diseases such as heart and bowel cancer.

How do we include more whole grains?

Breaky is a great way to get a dose of whole grains and fibre. Wholegrain toast, muesli, porridge or whole grain cereals like Weetbix are brilliant to up your fibre intake.

Use whole grain breads and wraps instead of white breads

Add more whole grains to your evening meal by replacing white rice with brown rice or barley, add quinoa or bulgar wheat to a salad and get curious and discover grains like farro, millet, buckwheat or freekeh to include in the weekly meal plan!

More than a Monster!

High energy Drinks - The Truth About What it Does to your Body & Your Brain

I often do a double take at the “in your face” marketing around high energy drinks on the supermarket shelves. They are loud, they scream AWAKE, like a rooster at dawn, and never look like a good idea as a healthy option. So then why does the energy drink market grow by 15% annually and is worth $1.6 million in Australia alone?

Energy drinks are widely promoted as products that increase energy and enhance mental alertness and physical performance. Next to multivitamins, energy drinks are the most popular dietary supplement consumed by teens and young adults. Men between the ages of 18 and 34 years consume the most energy drinks, and almost one-third of teens between 12 and 17 years drink them regularly.

What is in them?

Whether in cans or in a shot form, the main ingredient in energy drinks is sugar, caffeine, guarana and taurine. All which when consumed in large quantities can have negative impacts on your reactive nervous system, health and mental health.

Large amounts of caffeine may cause serious heart and blood vessel problems such as heart rhythm disturbances and increases in heart rate and blood pressure.

Caffeine also may harm children’s still-developing cardiovascular and nervous systems.

Caffeine use may also be associated with anxiety, sleep problems, digestive problems, and dehydration.

So keep the energy drinks on the shelf and instead grab yourself a choccy milk, or even better a DIY cold milky Milo - high in carbs, protein, nutrients and good for growing bodies. Just keep up the water as your main drink and keep sugary drinks as a treat!

9. Eat The Rainbow -

As kids we were told to eat our fruit and veggies as they were “good for you”. With over 94% of Australian adults not eating the recommended daily intake of fruit and veg, clearly this message got lost along the way. It's time we take action and colour up our breakfast bowls and dinner plates to include colourful foods that taste amazing…and I'm not talking about M&Ms or Smarties!

Choosing a variety of fruit and vegetables of different colours has been found to improve health and prevent a range of chronic diseases such as cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and obesity. It also helps with improving mood and mental wellbeing. Different coloured fruit and veg provide different nutrients and chemical compounds with specific health benefits. By eating a rainbow of fruit and veg each day, you can feel better both physically and mentally.

Here are some tips for eating more colourful fruit and veg.

Up your fruit intake to twice a day by including fruit at breakfast time in cereal, smoothies, or yoghurt. Fruit is also a great snack on the go, so take a piece with you wherever you go.

Add more colourful veg to every meal - If you normally add peas and carrots, add another coloured veg, like capsicum, corn, zucchini, or green beans. Adding veggies give taste and texture, so make sure you cook them so they taste amazing.

Always have veggies on your shopping list! Where possible, buy local, seasonal vegetables as they are cheaper and taste great. Otherwise, frozen vegetables are also fantastic and contain as many nutrients as fresh produce.

Enjoy your veggies and make them taste amazing! If you think veggies are boring and tasteless, then look on-line for ways to cook them or visit our website for some great ideas to make them taste awesome!

Don't give up - adding just one extra serve (½ cup) of veggies each day helps improve your health and boost your immune system. So do the best you can and remind your kids that veggies are important to help them grow up and for parents/carers to grow old well!

10. Junk Food Can Make Your Brain Shrink!

That drive-thru convenience, the neon lights at 11.00 pm, the nagging kids in the back seat, that jingle on high rotation on the car radio. If you need a reason to keep driving past the call for junk food, here it is. Scientists have revealed in recent studies that the part of the brain used for learning memory and mental health is smaller in people who eat highly processed foods, like fast foods, packaged foods and those low in nutrients.

Eating the occasional fast food meal or sugary treat isn't going to shrink your brain and make it function badly, it is what you do every day that can have an effect. People regularly eat a poor quality diet, that is low in fibre, high in fat, salt and sugar are more at risk of low mood, anxiety, depression, and poorer concentration.

The good news is that by eating a diet high in antioxidants, wholegrains, fruit and vegetables we can also repair cognitive damage and rebuild damage to gut heath. It may not be as convenient as a drive through but the long lasting effects of a balanced, healthy diet on your body, your mental health and your brain are worth it!

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