Welcome to the nzgirl Healtheries Q&A page where nutritionist and naturopath Vicki Martin answers your questions. Got something you want to ask? Hit the button below to submit it.

Ideal Weight
I’m 19 and weigh 69 kgs. I’m 5’8, am I at the right weight? I would like to drop an extra 5 kgs but I want to stay healthy, what would be a healthy weight for me to be at?

It seems you are probably at the right weight now. Five kg less would be fine too. The weight recommended for your age and height ranges from 57 to 75 kg so you have plenty of room to move. You don’t mention what exercise you do and this is the best guide to what your weight should be. It will tend to be at the heavier end of the scale if you have a daily exercise routine for half to one hour daily since muscle weighs heavier than fat, however this will make you toned and taut and have you looking and feeling healthy.

Bear in mind that just losing weight for the sake of it, without considering exercise, may result in weight gain later on because your metabolic rate will gradually drop. The more exercise you do, the higher your metabolic rate and the less body fat you will have. Exercise is the healthy way to balance your weight, and the benefit is that you will be less likely to gain weight in the future.

Alcohol Intolerance
I am 21 and last year I became intolerant to alcohol, as it started doing bad things to my stomach. At the same time I discovered that bread does the same thing. It happens to my cousin too. The annoying thing is that I am also mildly lactose intolerant - it can be a bit tricky working out what foods I can and can't eat. The odd thing is though that if it is a yeast intolerance I wouldn't be able to eat hot cross buns and I can, very strange. What can I eat? How can I have a burger (I love burgers) without bread? What's a good way around eating bread in a social situation? I can get away with not drinking, but bread is a tricky one.

You would be best to get a referral to a Registered Dietitian who will be able to answer all these questions and help you plan healthy meals. To have a balanced diet and get all the vitamins and minerals you require it is essential that you have the right foods to replace your bread and dairy products; otherwise you may develop a nutritional deficiency.

Meanwhile, you may want to go to the Healtheries website and look for the Simple products (click on Products, and then go to “S”. These products do not contain any wheat and they include a range of bread and baking mixes (so you can make your own wheat free bread, cakes, and biscuits), also pasta, crackers, breakfast cereals etc.

When you go out, you will have to order or look for foods that don’t contain wheat. This means a salad from the burger bar and no buns, or alternatively have a home made burger made with wheat free buns (homemade or bought).

A Dietitian will also be able to tell you where to buy these specialty foods. Crispbreads made from rye or rice are also useful foods to have around, as are corn thins or rice wafers (check out Healtheries Rice Wafer Thins) as you can use them to replace bread. If you are going to a private party you may want to take your own wheat free bread or crackers.

Dietitians in your area can be found at www.dietitians.org.nz. Click on the box labelled ‘Find a Dietitian”.

Puberty Pounds
I’m 18 and 80 kgs. I used to be really skinny then when I was 12 then I went through puberty and gained all my weight. My weight fluctuates all the time in between 90 - 75 kgs. I have tried dieting and heaps of exercise, but I just can’t seem to stay the same healthy weight. I eat reasonably well.

Unfortunately you are finding out that dieting puts on weight, and that appears to be a fact. When you lower your calorie intake, you also lower your nutrient intake, which in turn lowers your metabolic rate, setting up a process which will make you gain weight. The more diets you go on the heavier you will get. Time to stop dieting forever, and eat healthy balanced meals which will assist your body to raise its metabolic rate and help you to get out of the weight rut.

You say you have tried heaps of exercise, but it sounds as if you have given up. Exercise needs to be done every day for the rest of your life if it is to have any impact on your weight, so don’t give up. Also remember that muscle weighs more than fat, so the scales are not your most reliable indicator of how you are doing. The more exercise you do, the more you will weigh, however if you use a tape measure around your waist, this will tell you more accurately how well you are doing in terms of fat loss.

When you say you eat reasonably well, check out the fat content of the food you eat, and also the amount of caffeine you consume in tea, coffee, cola, and milo. When you cut these out and only eat wholegrains, brown rice, and wholemeal pasta along with your fruits and veg and protein foods – you will start to notice a difference. You may also want to do the Healtheries Health Questionnaire (go to www.healtheries.co.nz) which will give you further ideas on where your nutrient levels may need boosting.

Aeroplane Acne
I am getting married in Samoa in August. Flights always tend to leave me with a pimple or five, which is not the ideal bridal look. Is there anything I can do or take to minimise this risk?

Four to six weeks before you go, start eating plenty of fruit and vegetables three times a day. Cut out foods and drinks containing sugar and foods high in fat. From a natural therapy point of view, pimples are a sign of an overloaded liver, so if you avoid all the usual junk foods and keep your tea, coffee, cola, and alcohol levels down very low, then your liver will be kept happy.

Taking Healtheries Liver Aid capsules at this time, along with Healtheries Aloe Vera Juice will also help to cleanse and detoxify your liver and help to make you regular. By cleansing your system like this, all the pimples will be over by the time you reach Samoa.

An Easy Weightloss Programme
I’m 17 and I recently worked out through BMI calculator that I am overweight with a BMI of 27.2 I am wanting to lose about 16kgs but I am wary of the weight loss programmes out there and I don’t have much motivation. Is there something you could recommend (preferably not costly) that would suit me?

Firstly get a regular daily exercise programme going (this includes weekend days too). You may want to do this in conjunction with a trainer at the gym. Pick exercise that you like doing and that can be done in all kinds of weather, i.e. you may want to do some yoga at home on rainy days. The idea is to get a habit going for the rest of your life.

I would suggest you get a referral from your doctor to see the Community Dietitian at your local hospital outpatients’ clinic. This will be much cheaper, it may even be free. A Dietitian will give you continual help and support, and give you many ideas on how to balance your daily food intake and what kinds of foods and quantities to eat. Also your Dietitian will make a programme that is individual for you, you won’t be just another number in a diet company’s programme.

Gym and Junk Food Junkie
Hi I'm a 16-year-old girl who just recently started going to the gym. Whenever I finish at the gym I go straight to chocolate or sugary foods to munch on. Is this a good or bad thing? Can you please recommend some healthy alternatives instead of junk food that I can have after the gym.

The reason you are craving these foods after the gym is because you have used up all your reserves while exercising and your body’s blood sugar levels have dropped drastically making you want to eat junk food. I find the best way to avoid undoing all the good you have done at the gym is to have a large snack or a smoothie before you start exercising.

I recommend Healtheries Spirulina Smoothie Powder blended with apple or pineapple juice, or Aussie Bodies Perfect Protein powder blended with water and banana. Spirulina is a wonderful tonic containing many nutrients and a large amount of protein. The AB Protein Powder is pure whey which is an easily digested protein. Having a large drink like this before you work out will help to stabilise your blood sugar levels, give you more energy, and prevent those pesky cravings afterwards.

Fresher Fives
I have recently started University and am living at a Hall of Residence. Consequently they prepare all the meals ,which seem to be quite high in calories. I have already put on 2 kg in a month. Help!

I understand where you are at, having lived in one of these places myself when I was a student, and it is possible to keep your weight steady with some wise choices. I presume there will be some alternatives available at mealtimes so aim to get the healthiest looking food. E.g. At breakfast if they have muesli – go for this and avoid adding sugar or tinned fruit – add fresh fruit, and ask for low fat milk. Have wholemeal bread if it is available and don’t have butter or margarine on it. If there are salads as alternatives always go for these or ask to have a regular one made for you every day at lunch or dinner time. If food is fried in batter, take it off.

Are there desserts at dinner time? Then just leave the dining hall straight after you have eaten your main course. What are you drinking through the day? Cola, and chocolate drinks will hamper your plans for a lower weight, and also do watch snack foods and sweets which seem to go along with study – purchase plenty of fruit and keep it in your room for these times.

Lastly, how is your exercise programme? The best way to keep weight off in these circumstances is to exercise as much as you can. Never use lifts, always use stairs and join the gym, tennis, martial arts, or dance class to keep yourself active.

Counting Calories
How much am I supposed to eat? At the moment I'm trying to stay around the 1500 cal mark but most days I end up going over a few hundred, and finish up at 1800. On really bad days I end up feeling very frustrated with myself. I have had a look at a few 'calorie requirements' calculators and all of them say I should be consuming around 2100 calories a day! That seems like a huge amount to me! I'm very anxious not to gain any weight (I'm currently 174 cm tall and 60 kg, looking to be 58kg) I walk/run for 30 min a day and walk everywhere at uni and need to find a happy medium between what these calculators say and what I feel comfortable eating (I tend to get quite stressed if I eat more than I feel I need). Please Help!

You don’t say how old you are, but since you are at university I will presume you are under 20. This will account for your frustration at appearing to eat more than you need on certain days. At this age your body is still growing and will require many varying types and quantities of nutrients, and this will also change depending on what part of the menstrual cycle you are in and how strenuous your exercise has been for the day.

Food is more than calories; it is vitamins, minerals, proteins, carbohydrates, fats, etc. etc. In my experience bodies don’t count calories, but they sure do count how many nutrients they get, and if your body feels that it hasn’t got enough of a certain nutrient then it will send you out to eat more!

You need to reform your way of looking at food and start to balance your diet based on the amount of nutrients you have each day and no longer count calories. Then you will feel an awful lot happier with yourself, and also feel better physically.

An easy routine which will supply you with all the necessary nutrients in balance is to have a good quality muesli at breakfast (such as Healtheries Bircher Muesli) and top it with fruit and yoghurt. Lunch and dinner will need equal quantities of vegetables or salad, plus carbohydrate such as wholegrain bread, brown rice, wholemeal pasta, or potatoes with skins on, along with a protein such as meat, fish, chicken, eggs, or cottage cheese. I have found this formula works well and supplies all the necessary nutrients. As for quantity, work on a handful as being one serving (of muesli, veggies, bread, meat etc.) and let go of counting calories.

Refried Beans
In the new Healthy Snacking article you mention Refried Beans; are these simply pureed chilli beans or are they actually fried as well? I’m a bit confused.

Yes, the term ‘refried’ certainly is confusing. However refried beans do not need to have been anywhere near fat in their life. Check the nutrition labels on cans of refried beans and look for those that have only 1 to 2g of fat, these are purely pureed chilli beans. Traditional recipes call for the beans to be fried in pork or bacon fat – definitely avoid these.

Refried beans are a good source of protein and vitamin C, and a very good source of dietary fibre.

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