Our local pool is amazing. Set right by Sydney Harbour, directly under the flight path to add interest to the swim, and wonderfully heated so even I, the ultimate cold water wimp, can get in. For the past few months I have been swimming twice a week and loving it. It is fantastic exercise for fitness and, at the leisurely pace I swim, very relaxing. There’s just one problem: I am losing the battle against the middle aged tummy bulge. You would think that cycling a couple of kilometres to the pool and swimming two kilometres twice a week would keep the gut fat at bay but horror or horrors, it hasn’t.

Before you toss your togs to the back of your wardrobe and reluctantly fish out your running shoes, let’s think about this. I am one of the many people who has noticed that after they swim they get hungry. For me it is a delayed response, the urge to eat, and eat, doesn’t kick in until late afternoon. Some research suggests that swimming in cold water stimulates appetite by increasing the hunger hormone called ghrelin (think gremlin). But this pool is very warm. Perhaps there is individual variation and some people are more sensitive to ghrelin spikes than others – just a personal theory.

Whatever the cause I need to do something about it while I can still, just, fit into my tight skirts. First step is stop eating so much in the late afternoon. This takes some will power which, I have to admit, I have not bothered exerting too much lately.

Second, to help reduce the food craving, eat a fibre and protein rich meal within a few hours of swimming. My favourite anti-pigging out meal is Katalin’s Beans (recipe on this blog) with a small can of tuna dumped on top and some grape tomatoes.

Thirdly change my exercise routine. My recent love affair with the pool meant that I dropped my totally exhausting spin classes to just one every few weeks. This is about to change! It’s back on the spin bike for me – with the fabulously strict Anne screaming at me to keep cycling well past the point that I would stop myself. Spin classes burn up plenty of kilojoules but don’t stimulate my appetite so much.

Will I keep swimming – yes! Swimming makes doing other exercise far easier. It gets you fit and helps tone the whole body. Just don’t eat too much afterwards!!

What’s your experience? Does swimming make you eat more and what do you do about it?

Or if you know of some new research on swimming and appetite I would love to hear it…

“Can you believe it – they provide food!” The American accent behind me in the ‘real’ coffee queue was unmistakable. I turned around to chat. Apparently the tables laden with beautifully presented salads, sandwiches, fruit and cake were an unexpected surprise to these lovely US dietitians.

I would like to say a big thank-you to the chefs and waiters at the Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre who did a fantastic job catering for the two thousand or so dietitians at the International Congress last week. Each dish was labelled with those nutrition details that dietitians like to know: gluten free, lactose free, halal, vegan. Check out the pics below.

Then there were the trade stands brimming with more food for us to sample and take home. I can’t mention them all but here are  my nutritionchic awards.

Cutest Snack award: The healthy handful.

Australian almonds in the cutest heart shaped box – the must-have for every healthy girl’s handbag.

Most Raved About award: Chobani Greek Yoghurt.

Absolutely delicious thick creamy yoghurt with a choice of 2% or 0% fat.

Naughty but Nice award: Portion controlled Mars, Snickers and Bounty bars.

Guaranteed to have less than 100 calories per pack – that is if you can stop a one! And just as you would expect, there was PLENTY of interest in this ‘sometimes’ food.

Most “Wow, I didn’t know that” award”: The ‘Know your grains and legumes’ challenge.

Thanks to plenty of not so subtle hints from Robyn, the Managing Director of the Grains & Legumes Nutrition Council, I finally figured out the answers.  See how you go – pics below.

Most popular non-food give-away award: Nestle’s Happily Healthy plate.

A great visual reminder to fill your dinner plate with vegetables – a must-have for every dietitian’s dinner party – or perhaps not!

This week almost two thousand dietitians from around the world will converge on Darling Harbour in Sydney for the International Congress of Dietitians. The fascinating topic of healthy eating will be prodded and poked from all angles. There will be tweet-ups for the bloggers (#icd2012), cook-ups for the foodies and likely a few hiccups for those who linger too long at the social events.

Experts  in diabetes, gut problems, food intolerance and every other nutrition related issue will discuss and debate the latest research. A quick flick through the conference program reveals such interesting talks as “What helps people who lose weight keep it off for good”, “SPF on your plate – the new nutrition paradigm of complementary sun protection”, “Nutrigenomics”, “The low FODMAP diet”, “Will www make dietitians redundant?” and “Solutions to boost children’s calcium intake”.

But it’s the conference food that I am most interested in. What do you feed the healthy eating elite of the world? Will we see truck loads of carrots descending on Darling Harbour? I doubt it. Dietitians are not all super skinny exercise fanatics – although we do attract rather a few. This week I will be taking my camera as well as my notebook to let you in on one of the big secrets of the world – what do dietitians really eat?

Meanwhile as a special Father’s Day treat I have just made lemon meringue pie – not exactly healthy but at least it has eggs and lemons in it!

Are you ever so busy in the morning that your porridge is cold before you eat it?  That stodgy, cold porridge may be doing your digestive system a world of good. That’s because it is high in resistant starch.

It’s called ‘The Australian Paradox’. Australians and New Zealanders have one of the highest intakes of fibre in the world – almost twice that of the US and UK and yet we also have the second highest rate of colorectal cancer in the world (Japan is the winner of this not so prestigious honour.)

Each week 80 Australians die from colorectal cancer and over 12,000 new cases are reported each year. Why isn’t our high fibre intake protecting us? Dr David Topping, Chief Research Scientist at CSIRO, and others suspect that we are not eating enough resistant starch.