Host: Murray Norton (MN)

Guests: Fiona Hunter (FH)

MN: Hello and welcome to Web Chats, very good of you to join us. We're talking nutrition; it is that time of year when all are good intentions are to start eating healthier after the over-indulgence, the binge of Christmas and New Year. With that very much in mind, I'm delighted to say that top nutritionist, our very own Minute Maid, has joined us right here in the studio, that's Fiona Hunter, thanks for coming in. It is a difficult time of the year because we've got these winter blues, there's nothing to look forward to, Christmas and New Year have both gone, what do we do now? We go on a diet, we try to lose some weight, and we try to give up smoking. In fact our first question ahs come in from Jo, she says, "I've joined the gym, I've given up smoking, I'm trying to be healthier for the New Year, what should I try to eat because my diet is not that healthy?"

FH: Well done Jo for making those resolutions. So you've joined a gym, great, you've given up smoking, even better, now healthy eating, the good news is it's really easy. There are lots of small changes you can make that will really help to improve your diet and your fitness and your energy levels. 1 of the most important things people can do is to eat five portioned of fruit and vegetables a day.

MN: That sounds really difficult.

FH: Well we've all heard this message before, it's not new. People do think it's difficult; it doesn't have to be difficult. If you start off and have some fruit or vegetables at each meal then that's much easier. Breakfast is a good place to start, you can get two portions in at breakfast, a glass of fruit juice, something like the Minute Maid here, counts as one portion, so you're off to a good start. And if you have a banana perhaps, or some raisins, a couple of tablespoons on your cereal, that will count as two, so you've already done two at breakfast. Then perhaps at lunch have salad or a vegetable soup will count as a third, then you just need two in the evening.

MN: And two in the evening should be easy to do. That's an easy way of doing it, that's your five a day, I'm sure we'll come back to that in just a second. Now Jo's question came through and hopefully Jo that will help you a little bit. And if anyone else has a question of course there's a little caption area at the bottom of your screen, all you've got to do is fill that out with your question, get it out to us as soon as you can. We have now less than half an hour so get your questions off to us as soon as possible and we'll get them dealt with as soon as we possibly can. Sarah's been on the email already and has asked, "My son is only six, should I make sure that he eats certain fruits and veg?"

FH: Well, I know that a lot of parents struggle to get their kids to eat veg, but they're usually pretty good at eating fruit. It is important that you give them some fruit and vegetables at each meal, because as soon as kids start eating healthily the more benefit they've got and the more likely they are to stick with these healthy habits throughout life. If they aren't keen on vegetables you need to be a bit sneaky. You can sneak them into dishes like spaghetti Bolognese for instance; you could put in a handful of peas or some sweet corn. Start off with just a few, and when they get used to seeing them then put in more. If your kids really wont eat vegetables, focus on fruit. Because a lot of the nutrients you find in vegetables you also find in fruit and things like fruit juice, you could make healthy smoothies by blending fruit with fruit juice, get a little bit creative and be a little bit sneaky.

MN: There are certain fruits that children will eat, bananas are a good one for kids; it's a finger food.

FH: Yes, and at this time of the year we've got lots of these easy peel oranges around. Sometimes with kids I think it's just the effort involved in peeling things, so if you're packing up a lunchbox it's best to put some easy-peel fruit in and a drink, but make sure it's easy to eat, so peel it first. If you're going to put a kiwi fruit in, slice it in half and put a little spoon in there so they can eat it like an egg.

MN: That's a very good idea. Of course the fruit juice you mentioned, it's very important. It's a good way of getting fruit into them.

FH: Yes, it is. One small glass is one portion, so it's an easy way to help you reach that target. And of course if you blend it with some fruit, maybe some canned fruit like peaches or apricots, then it counts as two servings.

MN: You've done this haven't you? Sneaky! Kate is at work an awful lot and when she's at work she snacks. That's a difficult time isn't it? You're at work and the snacks come round, It's chocolate and flapjacks, crisps and fizzy drinks.

FH: We are turning into a nation of snackers. But there is some good evidence that shows that eating little and often is a much healthier way of eating, particularly for anyone trying to lose weight, because it maintains the blood sugar levels. So the advice is three small meals and to eat snacks in between but healthy snacks. That's the key! There's big difference between a banana and a doughnut. So when you're thinking about snacks, the sort of healthy snacks I'm talking about are things like oatcakes, fruit, yoghurt, smoothies or dried fruit. A lot of people don't realise that dried fruit will count. So plan a head, that's a key! Raisins, but also you get really nice dried fruit like mango and apricot, just pack them in your handbag or stash them in your drawer or desk at work, so you have something healthy at hand.

MN: Easier said than done! Now you mentioned oats there, now I just want to talk about oats because I'm finding that porridge is just a great way to start the day, and I know you're an advocate of these sort of things as well, particularly because they're slow burners, is that the right term?

FH: Low GI, that's the buzzword. Basically what that means is that they are absorbed into the blood very slowly, they balance the blood sugar so you don't get these big highs and lows, and they help keep hunger pains at bay, so if you have something like porridge or another whole grain cereal like shreddies or muesli for breakfast you're much less likely to get hungry mid-morning. So start the day with a healthy breakfast, a wholegrain cereal, a glass of fruit juice. The other thing about having a glass of fruit juice with your cereal is that the vitamin C make sit easier for the body to absorb the iron, very important nutrient especially for women and children.

MN: Combining different foods, which is what a lot of diets talk about.

FH: It's not so much combining foods, which is a bit of a fad, diet. It's about eating foods that help the body. Its not so much food combining its about eating foods that help the body, the vitamin C in the fruit juice will make it easier to help the body digest the iron, that's the bottom line.

MN: There's a question from Laura, who's finding she's very, very tired, when she's at work she's getting tired, I'm presume she's getting lots of sleep but if tiredness is the problem how do you overcome that with nutrition?

FH: There are lots of things you can do Laura. Eating little and often will help. Have small meals with healthy snacks in between, that helps balance blood sugar levels. People tend to get tired in the afternoon, and that's partly to do with our natural circadian rhythms, our body rhythms.

MN: It's a pretty natural thing, isn't it?

FH: Yes, because for our ancestors the afternoon was the hottest part of the day and that's when they found a shady place to snooze.

MN: Hence siesta.

FH: Exactly. So we're naturally more prone to feel tired in the afternoon. Another reason is because they don't drink enough, they don't take aboard enough fluid during the day. If you're dehydrated that can leave you feeling tired, lethargic, it can lead to problems with concentration. So again, plenty of water, or if you're not keen on water something like Minute Maid fruit refresh, which is a mix of fruit juice and water, so you're getting both.

MN: I've never thought about doing that, because often it's a juice, or it's a bottle of water, but to combine the two.

FH: Yes, you're getting a double whammy.

MN: We've mentioned a lot about diet and dieting and we've mentioned we're going to get onto diets in terms of nutrition, so Tracy's joined us live online, "I've been eating two meals a day, one being my breakfast, one being my evening meal, been exercising for 30 minutes a day, but I don't seem to be losing any weight. What am I doing wrong?"

FH: It would be helpful to have lunch. A small lunch, maybe a sandwich or a bowl of soup or something. Depends how long you've been doing it. Ideally the safest way to lose weight is slow but sure, so you're looking to lose one to two pounds per week, no more than that. If you can do it that way you'll lose the weight and the weight is much more likely to stay off as well. If you don't seem to be losing weight on the scales don't worry too much, because if you're building lots of muscle, as you are if you're exercising and doing the right type of exercise, then muscle weighs more than fat and you'll be healthier as well. I'm sure you'll be feeling much better because exercise helps to release those happy hormones, which is a good thing this time of year when everyone's feeling a bit miserable.

MN: Yes, seasonal affected disorder, or SAD, we're going to talk about a bit in a minute. But you're talking about building muscle and you're weight staying the same, are we a bit obsessed with our weight? Should we be looking more at the way we look and feel than what it says on the needle?

FH: Absolutely. I think for anyone who is on a diet, and I think there are lots of people who are trying to shift the weight they put on over the Christmas period, it's not good to weigh yourself too often. You want to weigh yourself once a week, and ideally it should be at the same time of the day, once a week, no more than that and you should see the scale shifting a little bit. You're right; it's much more about how we look and how we feel.

MN: We did talk about feeling a bit depressed since Christmas, that dip we get at this time of year, there's nothing much to look forward to now except possibly some bad chocolate at Easter! Then the summer, but that seems a long way away. Jane has sent us a message, "Feeling a bit depressed at the moment, could this be related to the diet?"

FH: It could be related to your diet. It's much more likely to be related to the fact that we just haven't had any sun! Those grey days can leave us all feeling a little bit down. There's good evidence that there are certain things that you can do that will help to boost your mood. Carbohydrates are very important, slow burning carbohydrates, things like breakfast cereals, wholemeal bread, oatcakes, and bananas. These produce slow burning carbohydrates that encourage the body to produce serotonin, the happy hormone. So eating the right foods little and often. And also there's a certain amount of evidence now that Omega 3 fats, the type of fat that you find in oil-rich fish, things like sardines, mackerel, salmon and fresh tuna, they can help boost your mood a little bit.

MN: Is that the "Mediterranean diet"?

FH: There's a lot of evidence now that suggests that the Mediterranean is a really healthy way of eating. There are a lot of reasons why. People in the Mediterranean suffer less from heart disease, they live longer and they live healthier lives. Part of that, I'm sure, is due to the fact that they eat more vegetables that we do. They eat twice as much fruit and veg. And the sunshine probably helps too.

MN: We're not jealous at all! I notice you've got a huge big fruit bowl there; I just want to talk about it. At one time, I remember when a banana was rare, all those songs like "I've Got A Lovely Bunch Of Coconuts", written in the forties when tropical fruits where rare, we take it for granted now don't we? As they come right now fresh from the world to our doorstep, the pineapple is great example.

FH: Exactly. One of the tips I give to people this time of year, when they're talking about making resolutions, is to try and eat a variety of fruit and vegetables, and supermarkets now have a wonderful display of fruit and vegetables. I think many of us tend to get stuck in a bit of a food rut, we trundle round the supermarket and we put in the same things, week in, week out. Particularly important is that we eat a variety. Maybe this weekend when you go shopping put something in your trolley that you haven't tried before. Lots of the supermarkets now have recipe leaflets or the little bits of information that tell you how to cook this.

MN: I think straight away of vitamin C as being the vitamin that comes straight out of fruit, but I suppose there is more than that. Here's a question from Mary, "Vitamins that you take in and how they help your immune system?"

FH: Well that's a good question, because there are lots of bugs around at the moment, lots of colds and ‘flu and we do tend to be a bit more venerable this time of the year, particularly after Christmas, because lots of us have been burning the candle at both ends, eating unhealthy, perhaps drinking a little bit more than we should, and that will weaken the immune system. One of the things that we can do is make sure that we have a good healthy, balanced diet. Fruit and vegetables contain vitamin C, very important for a healthy balanced diet particularly things like the orange juice. Another nutrient is zinc, which we find in wholegrain cereals, so back to healthy breakfasts. There are also some products like the Minute Maid here which are fortified with zinc.

MN: How useful is that? It says multi-vitamin here.

FH: It's a good way to boost your intake. The thing to remember is that vitamin supplements are never to be used instead of a healthy diet, so we're not saying that you can drink a glass of this and then go out and eat chocolate and cakes and whatever, but we all lead busy lives, and don't eat as healthily as we should. So something like this is an insurance policy to top up your intake, particularly at this time of year.

MN: that ones got multi vitamins, this ones got the zinc. I almost ripped the top of this when I saw it, smooth orange with raspberry and zinc.

FH: That's my favourite actually. It's a great one for kids too. One of the tips which we've got on the website, which I know you're going to mention later, is using things like this to make jellies. That's a bit sneaky again but it's very easy to make. You just set it with a bit of gelatine. You can even put some fruit in, some raspberries or some little mandarin oranges. It's a fun dessert for kids, and will count as one or two of your recommended portions.

MN: Alex's question, he's tired all the time, wondered if it could be a lack of vitamins?

FH: It could be. Certainly vitamin supplements are not a substitute for a healthy balance, so make sure your diet is healthy, lots of sleep, make sure you're taking lots of exercise, also make sure you're drinking lots of fluid, 6 to 8 glasses. If you're still tired after that try a multi-vitamin supplement, and if you're still tired after that speak to your GP.

MN: Imogen has written to ask us about the relationship between vitamin C and the common cold. You mentioned the Minute Maid and how they can boost you. Can they help to fend off colds and the ‘flu'?

FH: It's interesting, vitamin C will not stop you getting a cold. We know it's healthy for your immune system, but it won't actually prevent you getting a cold. What it will do if you've got a cold is shorten the duration of the cold and the severity of the cold, particularly if you've got zinc and vitamin C together. So something like this is really good for you to take. So the first sniffle or itch in your throat, take some of this and it should help speed your recovery.

MN: Kenny's got a question, "are some vitamins more important than others?"

FH: Not really, we need them all! They're all essential in our diet. Some are more likely to be lacking in our diet. Zinc for instance, we know the National Diet and Nutrition Survey showed that many people aren't getting their daily intake of zinc. Calcium is another one that is often short in people's diet, and it's very important for people's strong bones and strong teeth. People might not know, but your bones continue growing until you're in your mid-twenties, so we need to keep them strong to prevent problems like osteoporosis later on in life.

MN: When we're at school our milk intake is very great, but when we leave school we stop having as much dairy products.

FH: And a lot of people and young women in particular don't eat dairy products because they think they're fattening, but if you choose the reduced fat dairy-products like skimmed milk and reduced fat yoghurts, they have as much calcium in but just less fat.

MN: Henry wants to know about super foods, "A lot of it has been bandied around a great deal, what are they?" I don't expect you to list them all but I know 1 and that's blue berries.

FH: They are foods that provide loads of nutrients, there isn't an official list. They give you vitamins, minerals and phyto-chemicals. Phyto-chemicals are really the magic ingredients, they're the chemicals we find in plant-based foods. So things like fruit and veg and cereals. These are the things that reduce the risk or cancer and heart disease, and things like Alzheimer's and cataracts. There's good evidence that the more of these super foods that we include, and you find them mostly in fruit and vegetables, you improve your chances of living a long and healthy life.

MN: So get as many of them as you possibly can. It won't hurt will it?

FH: No, the more you eat, the healthier you'll be.

MN: Tom wants to know, "What diet suggestions would you make for a young male who is struggling with his weight?"

FH: I think lots of people are struggling with their weight at the moment! You know the average amount that people put on over Christmas is about five pounds.

MN: We think of that as a bag of spuds.

FH: Yes. And the extra eating and drinking contributes, but I think also the fact we don't do as much, we don't get as much exercise, that contributes as well. Exercise is crucial when we're thinking about controlling our weight. We often think about the calories we put in but we don't often think about the calories that we burn. The best advice is no crash diets and no fad diets because they don't work, sensible healthy, balanced diets, but eat slightly less, smaller portions, and do slightly more. Not huge changes, things like getting off the bus one stop early, walking up the stairs rather than getting the lift or escalator. Those changes can make a real difference if you make enough of them.

MN: People will think that's nothing. But it's the accumulative effect I suppose.

FH: Exactly. The recommendation for exercise is at least thirty minutes at least five times a week. But that doesn't have to mean going to the gym and getting hot and sweaty. Going for a walk is excellent exercise, and that's something you can do with friends or family. So maybe this weekend if the weather is kind, get the family out for a walk and you'll burn some calories, it's good for your heart, and you'll feel much better.

MN: Jane says that the entire family over-indulged at Christmas, "We all want to get back on track, we all want to get healthy, want recommendations can you make for the whole family, to get us back into the groove of being healthy?"

FH: The good news is it's much easier if you decide to do it as a family, and everyone's going to benefit from healthy eating. We talked about children earlier and said the sooner you get children on a healthy balanced diet the more they have to benefit and hopefully those good habits they learn in childhood are going to stick with them. It's great that you all want to do it. Plenty of fruit and veg as we've said before. Good breakfast, it really is the most important meal of the day. If you start the day with a good breakfast you're much more likely to continue.

MN: And you can all go for a family walk together can't you?

FH: Absolutely. Another thing that might help, if you spend some time sitting down as a family and deciding what you are going to eat over the next week. We all lead busy lives and it's when we get back after a busy day that we're much more venerable to making poor choices, and if we don't have the right ingredients then the chances are that you'll pop something in the microwave or phone for a take-away. So spend some time planning a menu, make sure you've got everything you need to cook for the next week, and you'll find it much easier.

MN: That's real convenience food. James has sent in a question, he overindulged at Christmas, including a lot of alcohol and he's worried it may have had an effect on his body and he wants to put it right. Are we talking about detox here? IS that a good or a bad word?

FH: It depends what you understand by it. There are so many people that go on these really crazy, punishing regimes throughout January and they cut our whole food groups. That's not healthy. I think January's a good time to think about some changes to your diet, and it's not a bad thing to cut out alcohol although we do know that small amounts are actually good for your heart.

MN: One glass of wine I've heard.

FH: Provided you stick within the safe guidelines which are no more than three units a day for men and no more than two units for women. Don't save them all up for the weekend, that's binge drinking. If you have overindulged at Christmas, why not take January off? Then start drinking in moderation in February.

MN: Zoë's got a drink related question here, "Can I lose weight without stopping drinking?"

FH: Yes, you can. Well it depends how much you drink! A couple of glasses of wine in the evening are only a couple of hundred calories.

MN: Or a white wine sprinter, that's OK isn't it?

FH: Yes, or maybe you could not drink during the week and have a couple of glasses at the weekend. As long as you monitor the calories in and the calories out and you are putting fewer calories into your body than you are using, then you're going to lose weight.

MN: One last question, that's all the time we have left now. From Martin, "My skin always feels a bit dry and a bit colourless, should I be changing my diet? What should I eat in particular to make my skin better?"

FH: Well it comes back to that old saying you are what you eat! It's true that our diet affects our long-term health and whether we get heart disease and things like that, but it also affects the way we look. If you use the analogy of a car, and people, men in particular, are very particular about what fuel they put in, our body is the same, it's a high-performance machine, and if you want it to feel good and look good you need to be careful about what you put into it. So a healthy, balanced diet, plenty of fluid, lots of fruit, vegetables and wholegrain cereals and some exercise as well. In terms of keeping your skin healthy, oil-rich fish and focusing on the good fats, the sort of fats you would find in fish, nuts and seeds and things like avocados, and that should help keep your skin moist and supple.

MN: You've summed it up pretty perfectly for us there. One final thing to mention, and that's the website you were talking about.

FH: Yes, lots of good advice, on how to eat, how to sneak fruit and veg into your kid's diet if their not keen on the website which is www.minutemaid.co.uk.

MN: Thanks Fiona, great timely advice there. A healthy 2006 to you and to everyone who's been watching.