Her Magazine is New Zealand’s only women’s business lifestyle magazine! Her Magazine highlights the achievements of successful and rising New Zealand businesswomen. Her Magazine encourages a healthy work/life balance.
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her time out project: nutrition Short Term Results = Long Term Failure From the cabbage soup diet to the grapefruit diet, we are constantly exposed to new diets that claim to melt the fat away in only a few weeks. The diet industry is estimated to be worth between US$40 to 100 billion a year with new diets regularly being launched. Often the initial 'success' of these diets results from a decrease in calories, through a reduced intake of carbs or fat. However, this may lead to malnutrition as foods that are high in carbs or fat can also contain essential minerals and vitamins. Although dieters can initially lose weight, long term results show this is temporary with 90-95% of dieters regaining the weight lost. Being overweight is a creation of well established behavioural patterns. This behaviour needs to be changed to include healthier dietary habits and lifestyle changes adopted. New Year, Same Ending The beginning of a new year leads to thoughts of self- improvement and the habit of making resolutions. However, by February the majority of us have seen our hopes of change disappear. When creating a resolution, the decision to make changes in your behaviour may work for a while, but when determination is affected by different life events, surrendering to emotional desire for instant indulgence is likely to occur. A long term study found that women increased the likelihood of maintaining their resolution by 10% when they told family and friends of their goals. Another approach is to address an old problem in a new way – break down your goal into small achievable and realistic goals. Think through exactly what you will do, and where and when you will do it. People who plan vague goals are more likely to fail, for example instead of planning to go running twice a week you should plan to go specific times every week. Women and Alcohol: A Cancer Combination 94 | February/March 2012 | HER MAGAZINE Breast cancer is the most common cancer for New Zealand women, with more than six diagnoses every day. Several risk factors have been linked to the development of the disease such as age, genetics, and dietary and lifestyle factors including alcohol consumption. According to the latest update on nutrition and cancer research, alcohol is the only lifestyle risk factor for breast cancer that is shared by pre and post-menopausal women, with a convincing body of evidence. A study in the United Kingdom conducted on more than a million women in their 50s showed that even a small amount of alcohol can increase the incidence of breast cancer. Ideally as prevention you shouldn't drink any alcohol especially if you have any other risk factors; however our culture makes it difficult to stay away from alcoholic drinks. The current recommendation to prevent cancer for women is no more than one drink a day – 1 beer or 1 glass of wine. Beating Stress with Exercise Stress is the body's response to work hassles, life's problems or any event that makes you feel overwhelmed or threatened. In moderation some people love it, it helps them perform and motivates them, but too much and the body can't cope. Exercise can help you recover after a stressful day by decreasing hormones that are associated with stress and increasing the feel good chemicals such as endorphins. Exercise can also act as a distraction, which may give your mind the space it needs to put the problem into perspective and find solutions from different angles, because exercise in itself is a stress on your body it can help make your body more resilient in coping with future stress. Try exercising for 30 minutes a day by taking a walk at lunch-time, using the stairs more often or going for a run after work. Project Nutrition is an organisation that aims to promote healthy eating through professional, practical and easy to implement advice. www.projectnutrition.co.nz