Health&Beauty
Portion distortion Having trouble shifting those pesky lockdown pounds? Nutrition expert and University of Chester academic Tanja Harrison suggests looking at what’s on your plate…
D
oes it feel like you can’t win no matter you hard you try to lose those few extra pounds that have magically appeared over the past two years? You’ve done your research on which foods are good to eat and are trying really hard to cut down on your favourite chocolate and nibbles. After all, you want to live more healthily! And if you are sticking to home-cooked meals and cutting down on the takeaways, then surely you Dr Tanja Harrison cannot have too much of a good thing? Yet lectures in Public for some reason, all your efforts feel in vain. Health Nutrition If you have changed your diet to include more fruit and veg, wholegrains and healthier fats “You can such as olive oils and omega-3 fatty acids, have too you are on the right track. So what else much of a might be stopping you from shaping up? good thing It’s possible you might simply be eating after all” too much. Spoiler alert – you can have too much of a good thing after all.
Size matters
Portion sizes can be deceiving and often it is hard to judge how much we should eat of certain foods to ensure we meet our requirement without going overboard. It can be hard to make the call yourself, so
we tend to trust the experts selling and serving us our food to know what is good for us. Unfortunately, over time, the amount of food served to us (a so-called serving size, a standardised amount of food) has increased. A report by the British Serving sizes have increased by 50 per cent Heart Foundation found that over the course of 20 years the serving sizes of pizzas, muffins and crisps packets increased by up to 50 per cent! Over time we get used to those larger serving sizes and do not realise that we are consuming more than we really should. So, what can you do? There are some great aids to help you become more mindful of not just how much food to put on your plate, but also how much to prepare and cook in the first place. You could take a look at the portion size planners at lovefoodhatewaste.com or invest in some portion size tools, such as specifically designed crockery, or a set of kitchen scales and measures to help you get the amounts right. Dr Harrison is looking for participants to take part in a study using a new tool to control portion sizes. If you are interested in taking part, please contact Tanja at meplate@chester.ac.uk
This time we’re looking at some of the myths – and the truths – around our height
1
Myth buster 116 SHIRE MAGAZINE | May/June 2022
Girls stop growing before boys True – to an extent. Our height is determined by growth hormones and these are released steadily until puberty. Girls commonly reach this stage before boys, so their growth will slow first. However, if your body continues to release growth hormones, you will get taller.
2
You shrink as you get older True. A little bit of shrinking is a normal part of ageing, and it happens because of three
things. First, as we age, the discs between our vertebrae lose fluid, so they flatten a bit. Second, the arches of our feet also tend to flatten over the years, which loses us another bit of height. And finally, we lose muscle mass, especially in the abdomen, which leads to poorer posture and the appearance of being shorter. On average, we shrink about 6-8mm per decade for every decade after 40.
3
Sons are always taller than their mothers Well, yes, this tends to be the case, based on averages and genes. But it’s not guaranteed. A very tall woman and a very short man will not necessarily produce an even taller son. The father’s genes also have an influence.
