This month nutritionist Vicki helps someone who can't stop thinking about food, someone who's desperate to gain weight (minus the acne breakouts) and a girl who's desperate to shrink her assets!

Weighing on the mind
I have always had problems with my weight. I’m not large but not as small I can and have been in the past. I know what I should be eating and how often etc but my real problem is my will power and my mind. I’m really sick of constantly worrying about my food and diet. What can I do about this?

It may interest you to know that if you have a balanced healthy daily diet and regular exercise you do not need to use your willpower and your weight will get to a good level for your height without a lot of stress. Cravings for foods and difficulty with willpower usually indicate an unbalanced diet which is lacking in good nutrition somewhere. I suspect that you are trying to starve yourself and cut back on your food constantly. This causes a low level of nutrients, which in turn causes cravings and binge attacks which are difficult to resist.

I suggest starting with a really large sized breakfast in the morning – including wholegrain muesli (such as Bircher muesli) topped with yoghurt and fruit. Finish off with wholegrain toast and a boiled egg. When the day starts with a good nutritious breakfast like this my clients usually find that their cravings really diminish considerably for the rest of the day. Of course you may be concerned about the calories that this meal contains, but my experience is that because of the high nutrient content of this important meal, you will find that you are much more energetic and for the rest of the day there will be virtually no cravings or binges and your weight levels will either reduce or stay stable.

I also recommend avoiding sugar containing and high fat foods and drinks as much as possible, and increasing your fruit and vegetable intake at the other meals. The high fibre levels in vegetables and fruits also seem to settle the appetite and reduce interest in cravings.

Weight gain minus the breakouts 
I was told a way to stop looking so unhealthy from being overactive was to increase protein intake, but the good cuts of meat and almonds are expensive, I’m sick to death of canned tuna and salmon and so it was recommended I try protein powder. I currently get breakouts of acne, do you think protein powder would aggravate it? I've tried eggs and they didn’t agree with my body and caused quite a severe breakout.

You won’t know if whey powder protein causes problems for you or not until you give it a go. I suggest getting a small container of Aussie Bodies Perfect Protein Powder and mixing it with fruit juice or water. Trial this at one scoop per day for a month and see how your skin responds. If your acne is aggravated by this, then you may wish to trial Healtheries Goat’s Milk Powder. This has a pleasant taste and seems to cause far less sensitivity problems for some people, unlike the cow’s milk-based whey powders.

You don’t mention if you are also consuming plenty of fruits and vegetables. These contain high levels of vitamin C and vitamin A which can really help to keep acne at bay.

Size matters
I'm pretty unhealthy and I don't exercise as often as I should - I may be the only girl out there with this problem but I really want to lose weight from my chest. It’s really affecting my life because I never know if a guy likes me for me or for my chest. I’ve tried heaps of stuff but nothing seems to really have an effect and the only stuff out there is to make it bigger not smaller. Any suggestions?

Well the first thing to do is to start eating healthily and exercising. There is no way around this; apart from the boy issue, it is well known that those who put on weight in the upper part of the body are more at risk for heart disease. I suggest reducing the fat content of your meals and snacks, and always check the fat content on the labels of foods. Although many exercises may seem to increase the chest muscles, they also reduce the fat content in this area. I thoroughly recommend you book a session or two with an experienced personal trainer who can recommend the best exercises for the area in question. The right exercises can do wonders for changing your shape, but it must be backed up with a healthy daily intake of wholegrains and plenty of fruit and vegetables.

Allergic to caffeine
I am slightly allergic to chocolate, coffee and spicy food as it gives me pimples. I realised that it is the caffeine in chocolate and coffee that is causing my pimples. Lately I’ve been drinking a lot of tea which I thought would be good for my skin and body, but my pimples seem to have gotten worse. Is it that tea has a lot of caffeine? Should I stop drinking tea?

Yes, you have hit the nail on the head. Tea also contains caffeine, and so does green tea, so that is out also. I suggest herbal and fruit teas for you – these are all caffeine free. There are plenty of flavours so you will need to experiment to find the ones you like. I suggest Healtheries Be Well Tea which contains the skin cleansing herb Echinacea, but you may like a Liquorice tea as well. Neither of these teas contains caffeine. Enjoy!

Tea, coffee and vitamins
I realise drinking tea and coffee hinders the absorption of Vitamin C and Iron.  But if I was taking supplements is there a time frame where I could still enjoy my hot drinks but benefit from the vitamins? What if I took them an hour or two before or after a cuppa? Many thanks.

Although having your supplements at a different meal to your drinks containing caffeine may help a bit in preventing losses of these nutrients, unfortunately your liver will tend to store the caffeine and tannins in tea and coffee overnight so their effect on the nutrient utilisation and absorption will still be there. 

I suggest reducing tea and coffee to one cup daily and having decaffeinated versions. You may like Healtheries Green Chai tea which is decaffeinated, or Healtheries Liquorice tea which can really give you a delicious boost. Give them a try, you won’t know what you’re missing until you do and they won’t upset your supplement intake one bit.

Vicki Martin, Nutritionist, Naturopath.   

Got a burning health question you want answered? Send it to us at info@nzgirl.co.nz!