If you’ve decided to cut back on bread in an attempt to control weight, think again. Wholegrains were one of a handful of winning foods in a new study looking at long term weight control. The researchers from Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Public Health found that people who ate more wholegrains actually gained less weight over four years.

Published in the New England Journal of Medicine this study of over 120,000 people found that people who ate more unprocessed foods, specifically wholegrains, nuts, yoghurt (reduced or full fat), fruit and vegetables gained the least weight over a four year period.

These people didn’t just keep on eating the same amount over the four years; they actually increased the number of serves of these foods they ate each day. More food means more kilojoules so why didn’t they gain weight? These foods are all high fibre (apart from yoghurt) nutrient rich foods which provide long lasting satiety. They keep blood sugars stable without the rapid spikes that experts now think contribute to weight problems. If you eat lots of these foods chances are you won’t feel quite so desperate to munch on crisps or slurp on a soft drink.

When the latest Dietitian’s newsletter arrives it’s like Christmas! I pull open the magazine and out drop a whole lot of brightly coloured advertisements, mini newsletters and information sheets telling me about the nutritional benefits of all sorts of healthy products – yoghurt, grain bread, eggs etc. This week the one that caught my eye was Dairy Australia’s current campaign to Aussie mums. It’s called kids need 3 and it’s a timely reminder to all us mums to make sure we are feeding our kids three serves of dairy a day.

It’s not a new message but I appreciated the reminder. Calcium is critical for children. This is the time they are growing most rapidly and it is their “window of opportunity’ to store up lots of calcium in their bones. Once they hit their twenties and their bone growth is complete, the ‘window of opportunity’ is shut.

Eat less, exercise more. Weight loss is a simple equation, or is it? Recently at the Australian Institute of Food Science and Technology conference I was intrigued to hear a number of speakers mention how the type of bacteria living in our digestive system can influence our weight.

Does that mean if I eat a whole lot of probiotic yogurt I will magically lose that extra padding around my stomach? It’s not quite that simple.

Our digestive system is teeming with microorganisms. In fact our body contains more bacteria than cells. We have around 10 trillion cells but around 100 trillion bacteria. In recent years scientists have discovered just how essential they are for health including:

• stimulating the immune system
• breaking down toxins and carcinogens in food
• fighting against bad bacteria such as e.coli, salmonella and clostridia
• fermenting food to release and absorb nutrients
• regulating inflammation
• regulating energy uptake from the gut

My son brought a mini-assignment home last week. It was all about how much sugar is added to various foods. Then it asked the kids to say whether they thought sugar should be added to foods. After reading that a can of soft drink has nine teaspoons of added sugar, I guess their answer will be no. And yet sugar can be really helpful in getting people to eat healthy food. What’s more important to ask than ‘How much sugar’ is ‘What is it added to?’ If it’s added to some water, colour, flavour and carbonated fizz, it’s not that great. If it’s added to milk, yoghurt or rolled oats it’s helping you to eat a whole lot of extra nutrients.

Also last week I received a brochure on snacks through my dietitian connections. Funny thing – their criteria for a healthy snack didn’t mention sugar at all. Rather than vilifying sugar, they rated the nutritional value of snacks based on the following criteria: low kilojoule, low glycemic index, low saturated fat, plenty of protein, plenty of fibre and containing calcium. It’s not necessary to meet all the criteria, in fact none of the snacks listed did, but the more a snack meets the better. What’s great about using this criteria is that it’s positive – looking for the good things about a food rather than avoiding something. It gives you more control over your choices and reduces the guilt of eating something that everyone has told you is ‘bad’.

I’m not saying that eating lots of sugar is a good thing – we all eat more than we need. I just think it’s unhelpful to focus on it when there are so many other aspects of nutrition to consider. So here are some great after-school snacks that meet some or most of the healthy criteria.

Carton of reduced fat yoghurt

A 200 gram carton of most fruit yoghurt contains two or three teaspoons of added sugar. Although natural yoghurt is ideal, the added sugar encourages many more people to eat this high protein, high calcium, low GI snack.

Rice Pudding

If you have left-over cooked rice, add some reduced fat milk and a sprinkle of brown sugar. (Apologies to my lovely Indian sister-in-law who would never ruin rice by serving it as a dessert!)

Roasted chickpeas

I have discovered these amazing snacks since moving to Australia. They are high in protein and fibre, and have a low glycemic index, making them a filling, lasting snack. And they taste good.

Wholegrain crackers spread with hummus or peanut butter.

I like Vita Wheat 9 grains as they are low in saturated fat and salt, and high in fibre. Make sure the peanut butter has no added salt or sugar.

Dates and a glass of reduced fat milk.

This was my standard after school snack as a teenager. Like all dried fruit, dates provide a concentrated source of energy – that means a lot of sugar in a small amount. But for active, growing bodies, this is fine. The milk provides protein, calcium, magnesium, potassium, iodine and some B vitamins.

Fresh fruit – of course

Chop the fruit up; it’s more likely to be eaten. Or blend it into a drink. lately I’ve been making a delicious after school drink of watermelon, banana and frozen berries blended with a little iced water and low fat yoghurt. The colour is fantastic and it hits plenty of good nutriton buttons: high fibre and low fat with protein and calcium from the yoghurt. Try it!!