Health, Lifestyle, Wellbeing Tips & Advice

Category: Diets

Mojo Health > Diets

Your Easter Survival Guide

DietsMojo Health

It’s the countdown to Easter and to lots of yummy chocolate but have you ever wondered why a rabbit delivers eggs made of chocolate for us to eat??

The Easter Bunny, as we know him, originated from German settlers who migrated to America in the 1800’s. The “Oschter Haws” or Easter Hare was a European Spring time Santa, judging whether children had been good or bad. The Easter Hare would carry a basket of coloured eggs, sweets or toys to give as gifts the night before Easter. The gifts would sometimes be left in the house or garden for children to find, hence the origin of the Easter Egg Hunt.

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The Wholefoods Diet

Diets, HealthMojo Health

Wholefoods are plant foods which have not been processed or refined (or as little as possible) prior to eating – think fruits, vegetables, legumes, grains, nuts and seeds. The term wholefoods tends to refer to a more plant-based diet with animal products, oils and salt being excluded.

Wholefoods are grown from seed without chemicals, sprays or insecticides and are as close to their natural form as possible, providing us with a natural alternative to the many ‘convenience’ food products now being offered in supermarkets.

Recent research shows that getting optimal nutrition from our food (and thereby optimal health) we should be eating wholefoods as our ancestors did about 100 years ago as these retain fibre, phytochemicals and nutrients that are often lost with highly processed and packaged foods.

Examples of phytochemicals include anthocyanins which give blueberries their deep colour or red coloured lycopene found in tomatoes. Wholefoods are as nature intended them to be – no added fats, sugars or salt and with all the fibre our body needs. Fibre aids our digestion and helps us to feel full faster. Eating wholefoods also help to fight heart disease and diabetes.

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Do You Need to do FODMAPs?

Diets, HealthMojo Health

What is the low FODMAPs diet and should you be on it? Firstly it’s important to know what FODMAPs is and what it means – Fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides, and polyols. So you can see why it’s commonly referred to as FODMAPs!

The FODMAP concept was first hypothesised in the Alimentary Pharmacology and Therapeutics Journal in 2005 with the low FODMAP diet being developed at Monash University in Melbourne.

Put simply the Low FODMAP diet targets natural carbohydrates (sugars) in foods that don’t break down easily, causing fermentation in the gastrointestinal system. Fermentation is the chemical breakdown of a substance by bacteria, yeasts, or other microorganisms. This fermentation in the gut creates unpleasant symptoms such as smelly gas, bloating, and abdominal pain. So where are the FODMAPs hiding in our food?

Oligosaccharides are found in certain plants such as artichokes, burdock, chicory, leeks, onions, and asparagus.

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