ketogenic - Real Food Dietitians

By Bridget Surtees (RD)

Its 2020. A New Year and a New Decade. For those of us in the Southern Hemisphere, January also brings with it long lazy summer days. It is the perfect opportunity to pack a picnic and head to the beach, mountain or nearest park. Not sure what to pack? Real Food Dietitians have your picnic hamper ideas covered. Try some of these quick and easy snack ideas below

Eggs:

The perfect Protein. Add some salt or mayonnaise to make it extra tasty

Rich in protein and fats to keep that appetite in check

Veggies:

Choose a selection of your favourite vegetables and cut into sticks (baby tomatoes, mushrooms, cucumbers, peppers, celery sticks, carrots). Dip them to keep it interesting -try nut butter, cream cheese, hummus, guacamole or Tzatziki,

Rich in antioxidants and fiber

Nuts:

If you are trying to keep your carbohydrate intake low, choose the lower carb nuts such as macadamias, pecans, Brazil nuts, hazelnuts, walnuts and almonds. Be sure to stick to a handful even though it can be tempting to eat more!

Rich in protein, healthy fats and fibre

Avocado:

The low carb fruit with the healthy fats! Add some salt or balsamic vinegar

Rich in healthy fats

Full-fat plain yoghurt:

Have it on its own or add in some fruit and seeds for more flavour and crunch!

Rich in protein, healthy fats and calcium

Fruit:

Berries, plums, kiwi fruit, clementines, melon, peaches – to name a few. If you are trying to keep your carbohydrates low and your nutrients high, berries are the best. Avoid the highest sugar fruits: bananas and grapes, as well as dried fruit and fruit juice.

Rich in fibre, vitamins, antioxidants

Cold Meats:

Keep the leftovers from last night’s dinner, such as chicken or steak slices; or simply take the easy route when at the shops with salami, carpaccio or prosciutto ham.

Rich in protein

Biltong

When the salt craving strikes, grab a stick of biltong or droerwors

Rich in protein

Join Real Food Dietitians’ Online 6-Week Low Carb Healthy Weight Challenge for a comprehensive guide to a New Healthier You this New Year – including personalised diet plans, menus and shopping lists, as well as LIVE Q&As, 24-7 access to our dietitians on a closed Facebook group, support, goal setting and in depth training on how to make a Low Carb diet a lifestyle.

By Tamzyn Murphy

BSc Med(Hons) Human Nutrition and Dietetics, RD

South African personality, sports scientist and Emeritus UCT Professor Tim Noakes is making news headlines again as the second and last day of the closing arguments of his “Baby Banting” trial before the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) commences. The council is investigating Noakes for giving unconventional and un professional advice. The complaint laid by Association for Dietetics (ADSA) president, Claire Julsing-Strydom, is over ‘advice’ that Noakes tweeted in response to a mother’s query regarding the best food to introduce to her baby. Noakes advised the mother to introduce low carbohydrate, high fat (LCHF), Banting-friendly foods (which include meat and vegetables) to her baby from 6-month of age.

While the HPCSA will determine whether babies should or shouldn’t Bant, it is clear that Noakes is right about at least one thing: meat is far superior to cereal as babies’ first food. Health authorities’ recommendations that meat, meat alternatives (like eggs) and iron-fortified cereal are the best first food for babies imply that these are options are nutritional equals [1]. They are not. Here’s why meat beats cereal hands down.

Meating babies’ nutritional needs

Iron deficiency is very common in children in South Africa [2,3], and across the globe [4]. Many infants also don’t eat enough iron [2]. Infants with iron deficiency have impaired growth, mental development and problem solving ability [4]. Iron deficient babies score worse for mental and motor functioning when they’re older too [4]. By 6 months of age babies run out of iron stores [4]. Meat, fish and poultry are rich sources of the most readily absorbed heme form of iron. The iron contained in iron fortified cereal on the other hand, is in a non-haem form that is very poorly absorbed [4].

Meat, liver, poultry and fish – given as babies’ first foods in many traditional societies [1] – were the obvious iron-rich first foods to be introduced to babies before iron-fortified cereals were available. Since iron-fortified cereal was introduced it has replaced meat as the first food of choice for babies [4]. Not only is it a poor replacement as a source of bioavailable iron, but it also contains anti-nutrient phytates, which interfere with iron absorption, thereby reducing its bioavailability even further [2]. Therefore, cereal, even if it’s fortified with iron, may not be able to provide the iron that 6 month olds so desperately need.

Interestingly, zinc deficiency is also very common in babies and children. Meat is an excellent source of zinc. Introduction of meat as opposed to cereal as an early complementary food for exclusively breastfed infants is associated with improved zinc, iron and protein intake. Babies fed meat instead of cereal have a higher head circumference and possibly also improved psychomotor development [5].

A weighty issue

Dietitian text books recommend that sugar and salt are not added to babies foods. Yet in the same breath they say that fortified infant cereal – usually packed with added sugar – is the first food to be introduced to babies [4].

Dietary sugar is linked to dental caries and the development of obesity and other lifestyle-related diseases. Even if parents do find baby cereal options that don’t include added sugar, they are still very refined (processed) and incredibly high in fast-release (high GI) carbohydrates.

Introducing cereals and fruit as babies’ first solid food is linked to the development obesity later in life [6]. Meat contains no carbohydrate and is high in fat and protein. A high fat intake during babies’ complementary feeding period doesn’t appear to increase their risk of becoming obese later [7]. There has been concern that high protein intake during infancy promotes weight and fat gain. However, a recent study indicates that this only holds true for high levels of protein from cow’s milk in formula fed infants. Breastfed babies who were fed meat instead of cereal, gained more weight and grew taller than those fed cereal, but they didn’t get fatter [8]. This indicates that higher protein levels from meat may not be linked to fatness after all.

Parents and health professionals await the outcome of Noakes’ HPCSA trial with bated breath. For now though, at least one aspect is clear: introducing ‘Banting-friendly’ meat to babies is a far better option than introducing cereal. From 6 months of age, babies should be offered pureed meat, liver, poultry, fish and eggs, progressing to the introduction of a variety of foods from family meals, such as vegetables mixed with pasture-fed butter, olive oil or breastmilk. Breastmilk continues to be the main source of nutrition throughout the first year. Breastfeeding is recommended for at least one year whenever possible, and preferably for up to two years or beyond.