You are what you eat, goes the old adage. Judging from the most popular Listener online stories, many of you want to eat better to be better – but you’ll still make space for a sausage roll. Here’s a recap are our most popular food and nutrition articles for 2023.
Plant protein warning: Do you have to chop these healthy foods from your diet?
By Jennifer Bowden
How do you stay fit and well when there’s a new theory urging you to avoid certain foods that you – and many others – thought were healthy?
This was the question posed by a reader who asked the Listener’s nutritionist Jennifer Bowden: “Seeking dietary advice, I was directed to Dr Steven Gundry’s The Plant Paradox. He claims to have transformed countless lives but his list of foods to avoid includes a raft of vegetables, grains, legumes, dairy products and vegetable oils. This seems to fly in the face of many other advisers.”
Given that Plant protein warning was the most widely read of the Listener’s online 2023 food and nutrition stories, clearly many of you also wanted to know more.
“Steven Gundry’s book recommends a lectin-free diet for health. But despite the claimed benefits, no clear scientific evidence shows that lectin-free diets can cure chronic health conditions or autoimmune diseases. Indeed, Gundry’s diet was labelled a fad by many health authorities, who advised consumers to avoid it. But is there any truth to what Gundry, a former cardiothoracic surgeon-turned-nutritionist, writes about lectins?”
To find out what Bowden concluded, you can read more here.
The mighty oat: New research suggests the breakfast staple improves gut health
By Jennifer Bowden
Our next most read nutrition article stuck with the theme of using certain foods to improve health. This time, it was new research suggesting that oats – long a breakfast staple – could improve gut health that prompted the question: “I read that oats can improve gut health. Is this true? I know they’re good for lowering cholesterol levels, but I am not sure about these latest claims.”
Bowden replied: “If ever a food deserved the title of “superfood”, it would be the humble oat. But for some reason, oats never make the Hollywood list for best-dressed foods each year. This is a shame, because oats lower blood-cholesterol levels, stabilise blood-sugar levels and promote bowel regularity. Furthermore, emerging research suggests they also actively improve gut health by positively influencing our gut microbiota.”
To read on, see here.
The Good Life: Edmonds pastry is gone in a puff
By Michele Hewitson
From healthy eating to the (possibly) not so good, who would have thought the humble sausage roll would star in so many of 2023′s headlines? Once Labour leader Chris Hipkins confessed they were one of his favourite treats, he was served sausage rolls wherever he went – even London to visit King Charles. Sauage rolls, or more precisely, the pastry they are made with also vexed Michele Hewitson.
“Here at Lush Places, we are partial to a pastry-clad thing. Now that Edmonds has discontinued its butter puff pastry, how am I to make my friend Linda’s famous sausage rolls? (The trick – don’t tell her I told you – is the addition of grated apple or pear.) Or the bacon-and-egg pie we often have for tea?”
Thankfully, there was a happy ending with the discovery of an even better pastry: “So, sucks to you, Edmonds.”
Find out more here.
