Talking Turkey with Prof Trim

‘Really, what do you guys know about nutrition anyway? One day you say eat this and the next day avoid it? When will you get it right?‘‘
The fact is that nutrition is a very incomplete science. Unlike other areas of health (like exercise), where we can specifically study muscles and their reaction, nutrition involves so much more.

Hence we chip away at the edges, with small increases in knowledge occurring gradually over time, rather than anything being set in stone. What do we know? Well we can limit it to a few positives.

• In the first place we know that fresh fruit and vegetables – of almost all kinds – are healthy and should be eaten more.
• We know that we eat too much saturated fat for our own good, particularly in the form of spreads like butter, full cream dairy foods, fatty meats and the skin on birds, fast food, cakes, pastries and pies.
• We know that seafood, of just about all forms, contains healthy oils than can help prevent heart disease. But we don’t know yet though whether this remains the case when seafood is farmed, as it will inevitably have to be, given that wild seafood is a finite resource.
• We know that some carbohydrate rich foods that are digested slowly (called low glycemic index or low GI foods) tend to raise blood sugar slowly and reduce hunger levels and are therefore good for people with diabetes and possibly for helping weight loss.
• And finally – and here’s the good news – we know that alcohol in moderation (i.e. 1-2 glasses per day for men and women) can be beneficial for the heart.
• But that’s about it for nutrition. Our knowledge of exercise on the other hand is much clearer – doing it regularly is good; doing nothing is bad.
  Dr Garry Egger aka Prof Trim

  For more information on weight loss for men, check out Professor Trim.