Better Call Saf (Registered Dietitian)

 Here are some practical tips on how to improve and control better your blood pressure and specific food that can help with that  If you were ever prescribed any blood pressure medication you might have heard from your Doctor that the very first step is to make changes in your lifestyle to even have a chance to avoid these medications Instead if you are lucky enough to not take any blood pressure medication then the best thing is to prevent any risk with simple healthier choices  Food that can help to improve your blood pressure thanks to their content of specific vitamins and minerals: - Pisatchios, Chia seeds, Carrots, Celery, Broccoli, Nectarine, Oranges and Lemons  - Food high in Potassium (like Banana, Pumpkin seeds) - Food with a good amount of Fibre (like Legumes) - Food High in antioxidants (like Berries - Fish high in Omega 3 (like Salmon) - Spices like: Saffron, Lemongrass, Ginseng, Cardamom, Ginger Lifestyle changes to consider:  - Think and Check w...

Disclaimer: This is scritcly a Dietetic point of view on how to improve or even better prevent symptoms related to myocarditis in the short and long term This means that anything related to medication has to be discussed with your Doctor obviously  We are going to discuss food to prefer and avoid on a daily basis to have good impact and improvement on your symptoms or to avoid any symptoms to occur if possible  Causes of Myocardtis: The inflammation of the muscular layer of the heart  (myocardium) Can be caused by: - Viruses ( including covid 19 and Herpes ) - Bacteria   - Fungi and Parasites  - Autoimmune diseases   Often the cause cannot be found which makes thing more complicated but the treament including the nutritional side can follow a similar path to recover from this, alongside the correct medication prescribed  Why this is caused and symptoms: The first 3 points in the above list are all going to trigger your immune system and the inf...

 Why this product review: - The nutritional content are exceptional and we are going to discuss this in details below, this also means that you don't have to stick with this brand , if you find something with similar values on the label for the main nutritional values, then is totally fine to choose that, in some countries this brand may not be available so it's one more reason to check the labels to find something similar if interested, for example in the US this brand can be found under the name of "silk" milk which is owened by Danone and is the same one that sells Alpro in Europe  - The Barista version i n terms of taste and flavours is better than the regular soya drink, so a good way to improve the diet withouth having to compromise too much the enjoyment  - The frequency: milk can be one ingredient used almost everyday for a lot of people so having an alternative with better nutritional values than cow's milk is a huge impact at the end of the month in te...

This post is divided in two section The first one to discuss how to prevent this and the second part on how to alleviate and reduce symptoms in the long term if you’re already suffering of this But before we start with the dietetic side of it, let's mention few things about the sleeping pattern: - Which side you prefer to sleep is actually important , considering that is everyday and almost 1/3 as an average of a day, that means is one of the position we are going to be keeping the most during our life - Sleeping on the LEFT side is better! simply because how our organs are NOT symmetrically placed in our body so with the help of gravity this is the best position to keep your organs while you are sleeping, all of this can prevent or reduce heartburn because gravity will help the waste to move easier in your colon  - A last point to make about sleeping is not just how many hours you sleep but also WHAT time do you go to sleep , making a routine when possible helps your body to reg...

  Becuase of work or leisure or any other reason, changes in your routine might happen and is normal at first to find difficulties to adapt, so here some tips to deal better with it  THINGS TO AVOID: - Overeating at night even during a long shift can increase the amount of calories stored in fat and increase the insulin resistance or chronic gut issues and eventrually affect your sleep during the day in a negative way, keep always in mind that calories at night still count   - If it's a new timetable, it doesn't make sense to try to keep all your old meal times, instead could be better to find a  whole new structure that could be at the same time easier to adapt and more functional, This could be one of the first steps to plan meals ahead - Consumption of caffeine can affect your sleep later on , so depending on your tollerance make sure to not drink it to later in the night, 5 or 6 hours before bed time  and make sure to have any drink that is not decaf...

Similar to the GI we can divide food based on GL that can be: LOW:  under 10 MEDIUM: 11-19 HIGH: over 20   In the previous post we discussed about the GI - Glicemic Index and you might have noticed that sometimes could be confusing and has some flows : - It doesn't consider a portion of that food , so is just giving a generic number to it and sometimes is not that accurate - An example is: watermelon which appears to have a high GI but is actually not becuase it reaches that level only with a very large portion  - GI is a good way to make quick food choices but GL is more accurate and is the next step for a better understanding on what kind of food choices to make - The preparation and other ingredients change the GI for example fibers or a longer cooking method will lower the GI level from the one you will see reported officially There are many tables you can find online basically for any kind of food and here some: http://dietdatabase.com/glycemic-index-an...

  GI stands for Glicemin Index  This is used to measure how a specific food intake is going to rise your blood sugar levels The point is that having a low GI or slow release carbs will help to keep this level low and avoid having peaks with your glucose and therefore the hormones produced by the body during a peak of sugar in your blood The benefits is not a simple weight loss, this plan has a wide range of positve aspects including: - Lower the cholseterol levels  - Reducing the risks of heart diseases - More energy during the day thanks to the slow release of it  - Reducing the risk of developing Diabetes, or keep that under control if already diagnosed Anything that has a GI level can be classified in: LOW GI - under 55 MEDIUM GI -  56-69 HIGH GI - over 70 I will provide a list of food for each of these levels, to have an idea of what to reduce and what to prefer, for any particular ingredient you can also check this trustable source: https://glycemicindex.co...

  As the name says a meal replacement is supposed to be a subsitute of one of your main meal, but why would you have that and what are the possible advantages? ADVANTAGES Depending on your personal lifestyle and the dietary targets you are trying to achieve, a meal replacement could be a good idea if you can benefit from one of the following : - Low calories but high in protein: The ingredients to be used for a meal replacements are endless which means you can keep the calories low for any weight loss purpose but keeping the protein high to not lose muscles  - Time saving: Preparing something like a shake cuould take litearally few minutes when the ingredients are already selected and is way better than skipping a meal and avoid long gaps, especially when very busy during the day  - Nutrients: Being able to select the ingredients including supplements/fibres/protein can help to easily achieve the achieve any specific requirements and at the same time avoiding extra ...

  Time to time I will provide some quick and easy snack alternatives to have more varieties in your diet and at the same time having a healthy option to use, at the bottom of this post you will find more links with other snack ideas in case you are interested  Snack alternative: Rough Oatcakes  Nutrional Value per 1 Oatcake   Calories : around 50 depending on the brand Fat : around 2gr but saturated fat are less than 1gr Protein : 1.2 gr Carbohydrate : 5.8 gr Fibers : around 1gr Benefits: High in Fiber Easy to consume with a varieties of other ingredients  No artificial flavours or hydrogenated fats  Very low in sugar and fat Things to note: - Originally from Scotland, Since there are  many variations and brands it's a good idea to check the ingredients to make sure is 90% or over wholegrain - Extremely versatile you can find the right combination with the other ingredients you are using and choose a different texture: Rough  Fine Crunchy  -...