While Brendan is away the cat will play

We had a very special visitor at Fruit Towers today. She goes by the name of Millicent, but her full name is Miss Millicent Brown.

When she first arrived, she was a little shy.

 

After a while, she started exploring...

She then found a very comfy spot (Brendan's desk).

After a while, it all got a little boring for Miss Millicent Brown in Fruit Towers. 

 

 So she left us, balloon in tow.

for the birds

Even if the weather has been more Augvember than end of summer, we’re still hoping to get in one last picnic. But it’s never too early to start thinking about next summer. 

By then hopefully we’ll be able to use this idea a proper clever clogs thought up – a plate that’s also a bird feeder.  

Instead of worrying about what to do with this plate after tucking in your fruit salad, turn it into a Frisbee, throw it against a tree and feel good about yourself. 

Yums all around.

the biggest loser

So last week in Fruit Towers we told you about Clever Claire's challenge with Brendan about who could lose the most weight. 

Brendan stepped up to the mark...

...and then had to see how he did.

 

But Claire's plans seem to have worked out a bit better...

So Brendan, a man of his word, paid up on the bet.

Brendan's thinking if only he didn't have that one extra pint. Should have had a smoothie instead.

To celebrate, Claire decided she'd had enough of this weight loss business

We’re on the box again

Given the time of year we’re reminding folks about our smoothies for kids. We’re doing this with our brand new telly ad. If you’re watching the Roses this year, you’ll see us at 7.53pm on RTE 1 on the Wednesday evening. And if that’s not your bag, you’ll see us in the ad break before CSI Miami starts next Friday night at 10.05pm on Living TV. If you keep your eyes peeled to the telly you’ll see us lots of other places too.

New Office, New You (well, really new Brendan or Claire)

Clever Claire decided that the new office was a chance for a new start. Since the old toaster and jar of peanut butter got skipped in the big clean-out of the old Fruit Towers, she decided that there would be no more afternoon snacks. 

When Brendan heard this, his competitive spirit got the better of him and he challenged Claire to a bit of (a) healthy competition.

We got the low down from both of them on their slimming strategy. Claire loves spinning so she decided to spin her way to winning. Her other top tips were salads, sushi and smoothies.

Brendan revealed his two big changes:  porridge and smoothies in the morning and walking in the evenings. 

The only problem is, his Marie has recently taken up a new hobby….home-baking. She recently mastered lemon-drizzle cake which isn't helping Brendan.

The official weigh in took place a few weeks ago and next week we will announcing the winner. 

protein and weight loss

Hello again. Sorry it's been a while since I posted anything but I've been off getting married and only got back this week (to a whole wall of my face in folds).

While I was away on honeymoon, Sam emailed me to ask if eating more protein is the best way to lose weight.

Well, let's start with the basics. We get our enegry from macronutrients and there are 3 types of macronutrients - carbohydrate, fat and protein.

So how much energy do they all contain?

Carbohydrates: The two main types of carbohydrate are sugar and starch and both provide the same amount of energy (i.e. 1 g of either will give you 3.75 kcal).

Fat: Regardless of whether they are saturated (not so good for you) or unsaturated (much healthier), fat contains more than double the amount of calories as carbohydrate (9 kcals per gram).

Protein: Protein is needed for growth and repair but can also provide energy.  1 gram of protein gives you 4 kcals.

Women need around 2000 kcals a day whilst men need slightly more at 2500 kcals per day. If you want to lose weight, you need to use more energy than you eat. To lose weight in a safe and sensible way, nutritionists and dieticians recommend that you reduce your calorie intake by around 500 kcals a day. And whether you reduce your calories in the form of carbs, fat or protein, it shouldn't make any difference, provided you reduce your calorie intake.

Healthy eating guidelines state that over half of our energy should come from carbohydrate. Fat should make up for no more than a third of our energy for the day. This is because diets high in saturated fat can increase the risk of heart disease. The amount of protein we need in our diet changes throughout our lifetime but in the UK we tend to exceed how much we need.

So my advice for losing weight sensibly is to stick to the healthy eating guidelines. Eating more fibre is an important part of this as fibre is a carbohydrate which is not completely digested. It can also help to keep you feel full and so can help prevent you from snacking. Plus it only has approximately 2 kcals per gram. 

Protein can also help with feelings of fullness. Foods such as lentils and chickpeas are excellent sources of protein and fibre (meaning you get the benefits of both).

Hope that makes sense, Sam.

As ever, any questions, just drop me a line,

Dr Shilps

Hello again. Sorry it's been a while since I posted anything but I've been off getting married and only got back this week (to a whole wall of my face in folds).

While I was away on honeymoon, Sam emailed me to ask if eating more protein is the best way to lose weight.

Well, let's start with the basics. We get our enegry from macronutrients and there are 3 types of macronutrients - carbohydrate, fat and protein.

So how much energy do they all contain?

Carbohydrates: The two main types of carbohydrate are sugar and starch and both provide the same amount of energy (i.e. 1 g of either will give you 3.75 kcal).

Fat: Regardless of whether they are saturated (not so good for you) or unsaturated (much healthier), fat contains more than double the amount of calories as carbohydrate (9 kcals per gram).

Protein: Protein is needed for growth and repair but can also provide energy.  1 gram of protein gives you 4 kcals.

Women need around 2000 kcals a day whilst men need slightly more at 2500 kcals per day. If you want to lose weight, you need to use more energy than you eat. To lose weight in a safe and sensible way, nutritionists and dieticians recommend that you reduce your calorie intake by around 500 kcals a day. And whether you reduce your calories in the form of carbs, fat or protein, it shouldn't make any difference, provided you reduce your calorie intake.

Healthy eating guidelines state that over half of our energy should come from carbohydrate. Fat should make up for no more than a third of our energy for the day. This is because diets high in saturated fat can increase the risk of heart disease. The amount of protein we need in our diet changes throughout our lifetime but in the UK we tend to exceed how much we need.

So my advice for losing weight sensibly is to stick to the healthy eating guidelines. Eating more fibre is an important part of this as fibre is a carbohydrate which is not completely digested. It can also help to keep you feel full and so can help prevent you from snacking. Plus it only has approximately 2 kcals per gram. 

Protein can also help with feelings of fullness. Foods such as lentils and chickpeas are excellent sources of protein and fibre (meaning you get the benefits of both).

Hope that makes sense, Sam.

As ever, any questions, just drop me a line,

Dr Shilps