Felicity Curtain

Dietitian

In the News

Top 3 foodie trends to watch out for in 2018

Around this time each year articles start popping up, predicting the food and diet trends that will boom in the coming year. While some years feature more fleeting fads than others (I’m looking at you 2014, the year of Paleo), 2018 is shaping up to be a more balanced, healthy year for food trends. While there are different views on what we’ll be seeing on shelf and in the media […]

Continue Reading →

5 reasons to ignore the I Quit Sugar fruit pyramid

Sarah Wilson’s divisive I Quit Sugar (IQS) program has caused a new wave of controversy this week, promoting their ‘fruit pyramid,’ that divides fruit into ‘eat most,’ ‘eat less,’ and ‘eat sparingly’ categories, based on their fructose content. Fructose is the main carbohydrate, or sugar found naturally in fruit, much like lactose is the main sugar in dairy foods like cow’s milk. Fructose is also the sugar IQS demonise as […]

Continue Reading →

How can I possibly eat FIVE serves of veggies a day?

If you were to make one tiny change to your diet, that would boost your health enormously, eating more veggies would be it. We know they’re healthy – packed with vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and fibre. But did you know people who eat more veggies have a lower risk of heart disease, stroke, and even some cancers? Those are some pretty good reasons to up your intake. This week is National […]

Continue Reading →

Cooking with cannabis – would you eat Hemp for good health?

There were surely some double takes on the daily commute this morning, as media reports announced hemp seeds might be approved for food use in Australia by late 2016. Yesterday, Food Standards Australia New Zealand announced the decision to permit foods made from hemp in the country, which are currently banned within Australia. Over in the US and the UK, the market for hemp-based foods is booming, with the stuff […]

Continue Reading →

Ancient Grains – The Health and the Hype

Ancient grains have created a consistent buzz in recent years, with their popularity even surviving the grain-shunning Paleo trend of late. But what exactly are these exotic-sounding grains, and do their nutritional profile match up to the hype? Read on for all things Ancient Grains. What makes a grain ‘ancient?’ Much like the term ‘superfood,’ there is no official definition for an ancient grain. While the Western World has consumed […]

Continue Reading →

Should you filter your water?

You’ve heard it a million times before: drink eight glasses of water a day for clear skin, better sleep quality, improved health… the list goes on. But even two and a half years after blogging about water once (hint: eight glasses is probably excessive), it’s still on my mind. A few Tuesdays ago I sat down to breakfast to read The Age. Tuesdays are Good Food days in The Age, […]

Continue Reading →

Is red meat on par with cigarettes for cancer risk?

Headlines were awash with sweeping statements this morning, as researchers from the World Health Organisation (WHO) announced a causative association between processed meat and cancer. So should the frightening parallels being made between sausages and cigarettes be taken seriously? Read on for my take on the developments. What does the evidence say? The announcement comes from the WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (AIRC) – a group of international […]

Continue Reading →

Vitamin Infusions – magic bullet or waste of money?

Forget getting enough sleep and eating well, the latest celebrity trend involves being hooked up to an intravenous drip that delivers a cocktail of nutrients straight into the bloodstream. The gang from Geordie Shore is the latest bunch to share their experiences with IV vitamins, but Rihanna is a fan from way back, posting photos of her ‘party girl drip’ a number of times since 2012. It’s a nice idea, […]

Continue Reading →

Orthorexia – the accepted new age eating disorder

Strict adherence to a healthy diet, scrupulously avoiding ‘unhealthy foods’, exercising religiously, and stocking up on ‘superfoods’. To most of us, the above reads like a shopping list of healthy living. But to some, obsessive habits like these may be symptomatic of an all-encompassing eating disorder. For Naomi Arnold, what started out as a well-intentioned health kick morphed into a fixation on “obsessive ‘clean’ eating and rigorous exercise.” Arnold had […]

Continue Reading →

The 22-day vegan challenge – if it’s good enough for Beyonce…

Last year she was chosen as the cover for Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people issue, and this year she’s hoping to influence the world’s dietary decisions. That’s right, Beyonce’s back on the vegan bandwagon. Although she’s quick to stress that she is not strictly vegan, Beyonce and husband Jay Z made headlines in 2013 after announcing their plans to take part in a ’22-day vegan challenge’. Apparently they were […]

Continue Reading →