Nutrition Q&A

This week, certified nutritionist Natalia answers two more of your diet and nutrition related questions!  To book an appointment with Natalia, please contact her through her website, OptimumNutrition4U.com and don't forget to check out her Facebook page and follow her on Twitter!


Q. Hi Natalia, I am a vegetarian, and I have come to notice that when ever I eat raw oats, like in homemade granola bars, my stomach hurts really bad and I feel bloated. I also feel this way when I have too much milk products and sadly I love cheese. But no matter how much I love Almond milk, I like the watery texture of skim-milk for my cereal. I am a very texture orientated person when it comes to food. Is there something I can replace the oats for in granola bars and is there a type of non-dairy milk that has the watery texture I'm looking for?

A. Hi! Thanks for your question. Lets start with the milk issue. To solve the problem, you may want to try several things. First of all, you can try skimmed or semi-skimmed goats milk. It’s a little easier for our bodies to digest goats milk because the fat particles are smaller than in cow’s milk. If this option doesn’t suit you, a rice milk would be a good non-diary alternative. It has a similar texture to a skimmed cow’s milk. The only thing you’ll need to remember is that the rice milk is very low in protein, so you will need to top up your protein intake from other vegetarian sources.

The oats would be very difficult to replace. I am also not 100% sure that your stomach ache is caused by oats since there are several ingredients in an average bar. You could probably try puffed quinoa instead of oats or just see what else is in the bars that may upset your tummy. Also in case you are using any oats, try replacing them with organic varieties.
Hope this helps.

Q. Dear Natalia, Dear Anna, 

I don't have very big dietary problems - always had a confident body image and love to cook healthy food, so no problem there, but now I am struggling with a new issue.

I come from a very stressful period, of moving houses and changing jobs, and now that I am settled, no matter what I eat during the day, or how late I dine at night, I wake up EVERY MORNING around 4 am STARVING. It's becoming a big problem, as it's affecting my sleeping habits and I get to work wasted in the morning. What should I eat in the evenings, to avoid having an empty stomach later on? And, if it happens again, what is best to have for an early morning snack, without having a bad caloric impact on my day?  Thanks a lot for your work, and best wishes!

Hi! Thanks for your question. First of all, please make sure that you actually eat enough during a day and have enough for dinner. Sometimes you may get up simply because you ARE hungry as your dinner or total daily food intake was insufficient.

If this is ok, then you can try to change your diet slightly in order to improve your sleeping pattern and get proper rest. Avoid caffeine containing foods and drinks (coffee, tea, soft drinks like cola, pepsi etc., chocolate and cocoa) after 4pm. Instead replace them with herbal teas like mint or chamomile – they will help you relax and are caffeine-free.
Also have tryptophan-rich foods for dinner. This amino acid is a precursor of a sleep-inducing hormone serotonin. Eating tryptophan-rich foods and combining them with complex carbohydrates will make you sleepy and also promote satiety. Your best picks are fish and seafood, chicken, turkey, eggs, nuts and dairy products combined with whole grains like brown rice, soba noodles, lentils, beans, chickpeas, buckwheat etc. For example, you can have roasted salmon and brown rice, prawns with green lentils, wholegrain pita bread with sliced turkey breast and some hummus, grilled chicken breast and buckwheat.

Watch the portion sizes and avoid fatty foods (for example, red meat or too much cheese or creamy sauce) as very large meals as well as meals high in fat will take longer to be digested and keep you awake all night.

You can also have a light snack just before you go to bed, for example, a couple of oat cakes with a glass of milk or a small natural yoghurt with a teaspoon of honey. Dairy contains both tryptophan and calcium that helps the brain use the tryptophan and produce melatonin. Alternatively, just have a cup of chamomile or mint tea with a teaspoon or honey. Same snack would work as a very early morning snack, but fingers crossed you won’t need it any more.


If you would like to leave a question for Natalia to answer in next week's Nutrition Q&A, please post it as a comment under this post beginning with the words "Dear Natalia".  As always, your thoughts on this week's questions and answers are always welcome so feel free to let us know what you think and whether this helped you too!


xoxo
Anna and Natalia