I have no idea how I managed to get through the school day with a diet that was so high in fat, sugar and salt and extremely low in fruit and vegetables.

Thankfully, my diet has dramatically changed since high school. A few years ago, I boycotted all fast food. I went cold turkey on the lot – McDonalds, Red Rooster, Hungry Jacks, Chicken Treat, KFC…..

In my experience, a healthy diet has made all the difference to my ability to think clearly and get things done. Nowadays, I eat the recommended amount of fruit (2 serves) and vegetables (5 serves) every day. But this didn’t happen overnight…it took years to get to this point.

The thing is if healthy eating habits are never modelled for you and you’re never taught in a compelling way why you should eat more fruit and vegetables, why would you say no to a piece of fried chicken and chips that costs only $3.95?

If you’re used to feeling sluggish and depressed, it’s really hard to imagine that you could feel more vibrant and alive and have razer sharp thinking by eating more beans, carrots and apples. As students many of us just want a quick, delicious and cheap fix.

The good news is that it doesn’t have to take you years to kick the junk food habit, eat healthier and start feeling great. You can fast track the process by learning from the experience of others.

For what it’s worth, here’s my experience and advice.

Go cold turkey

A professor in nutrition said “If you eat well 80% of the time, then it’s OK to have a burger and fries every now and then”. This is a great idea in theory. The problem for me was junk food wasn’t just the occasional indulgence. I was addicted to the stuff. It was what I ate 80% of the time!

I needed a radical intervention.

I read that it takes 3 months for the brain to rewire and recover from junk food addiction. It’s for this reason that I went cold turkey and refused to go to fast food outlets.

To break such an unhealthy habit, you need to get serious about what you’re putting in your mouth. Just like an alcoholic at AA decides to never touch a alcoholic drink again, you need to commit to keeping your hands off junk food for at least 3 months until your neural circuits rewire.

Cooking 101 – Let go of your “cooking baggage”

Deciding to cut out junk food and eat healthier is the first step. But then you may be presented with a new challenge – what do you eat/cook now?

Learning to cook healthy meals is like riding a bike. You can’t get good at it by reading a book or watching Master Chef. The only way is to learn by doing. And this can be really daunting for those of us with “cooking baggage”.

I’ll admit, I had “cooking baggage”. In my first high school cooking class I managed to break a bowl, burn my muffins and was scolded by the teacher. Hence, I developed a fear of kitchens and associated utensils.

I decided to overcome this irrational fear by participating in Indian and Japanese cooking courses. By observing other confident people cook good food and get some hands on experience in a non-threatening environment, I started to believe that I could improve my cooking and it didn’t have to be a stressful experience.

Keep your meals fresh and exciting

You can sometimes get yourself into a cooking rut where you find yourself cooking the same meals over and over again. If you eat too much of anything (e.g. sushi), I can almost guarantee that it won’t be long before that food begins to taste bland.

On my weekends I like to plan out my meals for the following week. I do this by taking out a few good healthy cookbooks, some post it notes, a blank sheet of paper and pens.

I spend 30 minutes to an hour going through the books placing post it notes on the recipes I want to try. On a blank sheet of paper I plan out my lunches and dinners for the next 7 days and a list of ingredients I need to buy (I have separate shopping lists for the farmers market and supermarket). I then scan each day to make sure I’m getting an adequate amount of fruit and vegetables.

If you don’t have many good cookbooks at home, try this process at a public library or log onto websites such as taste.com.au and jaimeoliver.com for meal ideas. For something a little more creative and fun, check out They Draw and Cook.

Slow down and smell the garlic in the pan

There was a time when I had the attitude “I’m too busy to waste my time cooking. I should be working instead of slaving in the kitchen!” so I would buy my lunch and dinner nearly every day.

Sure, I gained a bit more time to work on projects, but I felt terrible and I’m not sure how productive I actually was with my foggy brain.

Making the decision to slow down and spend time cooking my meals was probably one of the best things I ever did. At least I know what’s going into each dish, I feel good about saving on unnecessary packaging (e.g. plastic throwaway containers) and my brain is much sharper too.

So even though I now spend more time in the kitchen and less time doing work, I’m almost certain that I get more done in my working hours because I have better attention and feel more alert.

Get clear on what “a serve” looks like

For years I thought that consuming 5 serves of vegetables a day was mission impossible. After all, what did a serve look like? Was it a whole broccoli? Or a medium sized potato? Did it change if I cooked the vegetable?

The latest edition of The Healthy Food Guide (July 2011) contains an article called ”Ever wondered what a serve of veges actually is?” (pages 28-29). As a general rule one serve of vegetables is approximately 75g in weight. To get a better idea of what a serve of vegetables actually looks like, see below for some examples.

1 serve of vegetables is equivalent to….

What about fruit? Well, 1 serve of fruit is roughly 150g in weight.

According to the “Go for 2 & 5 campaign”, 1 serve of fruit looks like…

Cutting out junk food wasn’t easy at first, but it became a lot easier as I started to feel the positive benefits of healthy eating and I became more confident in my ability to cook healthy meals. If you’re committed to taking better care of yourself, then my final bit of advice would be – Keep at it.

Somedays you will feel like you’re on a roll, eating really well for most of the day, but come the evening you may find yourself eating a bag of chips. If that happens, don’t stress. That was a minor blip. Tomorrow is another day and an opportunity to eat foods that will make you feel more alive and add more years to your life.

If you have any ideas or strategies that have helped you to eat healthier, I would love to hear them.

But don’t go thinking that eating something is going to be better than nothing.

Sure, a bacon and egg muffin with a hashbrown and expresso coffee may feel like a great idea the morning of an exam (especially if you’ve had a sleep deprived night of cramming facts) but please resist the urge to eat this greasy sludge and consume ridiculous quantities of caffeine!

Here’s the thing, if you eat a lot of food (particularly heavy, greasy food) before an exam you run the risk of decreasing your ability to think clearly and effectively (caffeine will just make you jumpy and increase your stress levels).

Your digestive system will be competing with your brain for oxygen rich blood (and your brain needs this in an exam!).

Whatever you decide to eat before an exam, make sure you eat it 2 hours before the exam to allow for digestion and peak mental performance.

What are the sorts of breakfasts that will fuel your brain for an exam?

1. Porridge with raisins and fruit

2. A bowl of muesli with cut up fruit (I recommend blueberries and/or banana)

3. Wholemeal toast with avocado and tomato

4. Wholemeal english muffin with an egg

5. Wholemeal toast with baked beans

What should you avoid eating for breakfast before an exam? (Note: These are examples of breakfasts students I work with typically have)

1. Coco-pops (or any sugary cereal for that matter)

2. Energy drinks

3. Fatty bacon and sausages

4. Hot chips

5. White bread with jam

If you have any other healthy breakfast ideas, let me know!

Yes, fish contains that magical ingredient – Omega 3. We’ve all heard of this fatty acid Omega 3 before, it’s now even being added to foods such breads, mayonnaise, pizza, eggs and infant milk. But why? What’s all the fuss about?

Research indicates that Omega 3 is associated with a huge range of benefits such as:

prevents crohn’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis and cancer

reduces ADHD type symptoms

lowers risk of chronic disease

reduces the risk of strokes

sharpens memory

improves ability to learn and concentrate

enhances mood and emotional well-being

Omega 3 and Learning Enhancement

Researchers conducted an interesting study on a group of more than 100 below average students. For 6 months half of these students had to take omega 3 capsules with their meals whilst the other half received a placebo.

Interestingly, what the researchers found is that 40% of the students who took the omega 3 capsules showed significant improvements in school performance in relation to reading, spelling and behaviour than the students who received the placebo.

In fact one mother even reported dramatic changes in her son who went from having little interest in reading to developing a passion for spending time in the library after school and soaring through books. In addition, he also developed an interest in classical music. Other parents reported similar changes in their children.

Omega 3 and Mood Enhancement

Omega 3 is also now being used to lift peoples moods and enhance their emotional well-being.

Andrew Stoll, M.D. (Harvard) ran an experiment with 30 participants who had bipolar disorder (this disorder involves periods of feeling depressed and manically high). Half the participants were fed 9.6 grams of fish oil capsules a day and the other half were administered olive oil as a placebo.

What the researchers found was that the participants who took the fish oil capsules experienced lower depression levels than those who took the placebo. On the downside, some of them also reported experiencing nausea and a fishy aftertaste.

Omega 3 – what will you find it in?

Will you get your daily Omega 3 dietary intake by ordering fish and chips from your local shop? No, most likely you won’t.

Omega 3 is commonly found in cold water oily fish such as sardines, mackarel, anchovies, herring, salmon and to a lesser extent tuna.

Some individuals have expressed concerns about heavy metals and toxins being present in these fish as they may accumulate in the food chain. However in the 2006 Journal of American Medical Association it was stated that the benefits of eating these fish far outweigh the potential risks. In addition, Choice magazine investigated the benefits and risks associated with eating fish and concluded –

“There are plenty of fish species, both fresh and processed, that are good for you and are harvested sustainably.”

How much should you have?

You can meet your dietary targets of Omega 3 by eating 2 oily fish meals per week.

If that doesn’t sound appealing then you’ll have to take a fish oil supplement – either some syrup or capsules.

Should you go the syrup or the capsules?

Speaking from my own personal experience, the fish oil syrups can smell and taste a little funny/disgusting.

Smell and taste aside, it has been suggested that fish oil syrups may be more effective as they are absorbed by the body more quickly than capsules.

Forget the oily fish and syrup, give me the capsules!

There are a lot of different fish oil supplements out there, so knowing which one to purchase can be difficult.

Conveniently Choice magazine conducted a study comparing 20 different supplements and found that 4 of the 20 supplements actually contained less than the suggested dietary targets for Omega 3 in the maximum daily dose. Click here to see the results (you’ll notice that the price can vary dramatically – from 10c to $1 a day, so choose your capsules carefully!).

All too often I hear people say that they don’t eat breakfast or if they do, their breakfast has little (if any) nutritional content.

Let me give you some examples of what I commonly hear students say they eat for breakfast: fruit loops, white bread with jam, coco-pops, a glass of juice and hot chips!

Is it any wonder why so many students can’t concentrate in class?

The simple fact is that a good, healthy breakfast fuels your mind for the day. So if you’re one of those people who has a tendency to skip breakfast because you don’t have time, you just don’t like it or perhaps you’re not sure what to eat, or if you’re someone who eats breakfast but it tends to be high in sugar and fat (yes, that’s you coco-pop girl and hot chip boy!), you’re at a disadvantage because you won’t be able to learn new information effectively. In fact, it’s going to be hard to learn anything at all.

If you eat the wrong foods or don’t eat at all in the morning, your experience of study will be like running a race with shoes made out of concrete slabs. It’s going to be difficult and take you longer than it should to go the distance.

So below are some healthy and simple ways to nourish your mind at the start of the day so you can succeed at your studies.

1. Fruit smoothie

If you’re one of these people who struggles to find time to eat breakfast, then smoothies are for you! They only take a minute to make and a minute or two to drink!

I recommend that you make your own smoothie. Don’t buy them from cafes and places like ‘Boost Juice’ for several reasons. Firstly, places like ‘Boost Juice’ tend to add a lot of ice-cream/sorbet to your smoothies but not so much fruit. In short, you can never be quite sure what they are adding to your smoothie! That’s why I prefer to make my own, I’m in control and know exactly what’s going in!

You can add anything to a smoothie but I like to keep mine simple. Here are a couple of my favourite smoothie recipes:

*Chocolate Pear smoothie

1 – 2 pears, chopped up
2 tablespoons of cocoa powder
1 cup of milk

*Fruit smoothie

1/4 cup of blueberries
1 banana
1 pear
1 cup of milk

For extra protein you can add a raw egg and some nuts (I always add a handful of almonds. They taste great!). You can also add a tablespoon or two of natural low fat yogurt (I tend to use locally made Mundella yogurt).

2. Avocado and tomato on toast

Slice half an avocado and spread it across 1 or 2 slices of toasted bread (sourdough or wholemeal). Then slice a tomato and add it on top. Season with pepper.

If you want a slightly more creative and flashy breakfast, you could try this recipe, “Creamy Avocado and Cherry tomato Toast”.

If you’re someone who loves to eat white bread and can’t live without it, you can now purchase a low GI high fiber bread from Bakers Delight. I’ve had it a few times and it’s quite nice.

3. Omelette with vegetables

Eggs are full of protein and can be a great way to start the day.

Click here to see a basic healthy omelette recipe. Please note that this recipe only uses 1 whole egg and the egg white of another egg. The reason for this is that egg yolk is high in cholesterol.

On average teenagers need between 40 – 50 grams of protein a day. From eating 1 cooked egg you’ll be receiving about 7 grams of protein. The Queensland health department have come up with a fact sheet on ways to boost your protein and energy, click here to check it out. Please note that this resource was created for parents who want to boost their energy levels in their children, therefore some of their recommendations such as “dress foods with sauces, gravies, dips or toppings” and “add sugar/honey to cereals” I would not recommend to young adults.

Another useful site that talks about protein is “Kids Health”. As you can probably tell from the name, it’s aimed at kids but I think you’ll still find the content very relevant and useful.

4. Porridge

I always cook porridge for breakfast when I go hiking. Firstly, it’s really easy to make (click here for a simple recipe) and secondly, it allows me to walk for several hours without needing a snack and helps me fight fatigue.

A word of advice, try to avoid buying instant porridge. They tend to be overpriced/over packaged and can contain a lot of artificial flavours. Why waste your money on this stuff when it’s so easy to make?

5. A bowl of muesli

Oats are low GI, so a bowl of muesli that is low in sugar with some chopped fruit (e.g. banana, pear and/or blueberries) is a great way to start the day. You can also sprinkle some almonds and add a tablespoon of low fat yogurt on top.

I don’t think so.

Most of us are all too familiar with the ‘post fish and chip’ or ‘KFC’ effect. Speaking from my own experience, I used to feel so good as I gobbled down some fish and chips but shortly afterwards, I was always left feeling sluggish, grumpy and lethargic (with a dash of the guilts to top it all off!).

I could never quite understand why my mood used to fluctuate so much throughout the day. It wasn’t until I discovered the ‘low GI’ diet that I realised that what I was putting into my mouth was directly correlated with my mood.

I came to the following realisation:

Healthy + natural + low GI foods -> Health and happy Jane

Fatty + sugary + highly processed + high GI foods -> Grumpy, depressed Jane

So what exactly is the low GI diet?

It’s all to do with carbs and your blood sugar levels but it’s got nothing to do with fad diets such as the Atkins. The GI (glycemic index) is a physiologically based measure of the effect of carbohydrates on blood glucose levels.

Jennie Brand Miller (Professor of Human Nutrition at the University of Sydney) describes the low GI diet as follows:

“[The low GI diet is] a carbohydrate controlled diet because it is based on choosing low GI carbs that are slowly digested and absorbed, producing only gentle rises in your blood glucose and insulin levels”.

Carbs that break down rapidly during digestion, releasing glucose quickly into your blood have high GI values and carbs that break down slowly have low GI values.

So you may be thinking ‘Ok, great, but so what? What does all this mean for me and my body?’.

The benefits of a low GI diet

If you can get beyond the technical terms (and Jennie Brand Miller does a great job of keeping them to a minimum in her books), I highly recommend you give the low GI diet a try for at least 1 week so you can see why this diet is so fantastic.

Firstly, you will find that you feel fuller for longer (so when you’re in class or in the office working in silence with all your classmates or colleagues, you won’t have to worry about your stomach rumbling loudly) but most importantly by eating low GI foods your body isn’t going on a constant roller-coaster ride of feeling on a high and then suddenly feeling fatigued and hungry again (i.e. the ‘fish and chip/KFC’ effect I discussed earlier).

On a low GI diet, you’ll find you can think more clearly which will allow you to be more productive and get the most out of your day. It also reduces risks of developing diabetes, heart disease and certain types of cancer.

How can you tell if your food is low GI or high GI?

That’s where ‘The low GI shoppers guide’ and/or the GI database comes in handy. These will tell you what foods are low GI (values of 55 or less), medium GI (56 to 69) and high GI (70 or more).

Just from flipping through the shoppers guide for a minute, I can see that some high GI foods to watch out for are potatoes (GI values range from 65 to 101), canned lychees (79) and gluten free products. McDonald’s Deli Choice items such as the chicken tandoori multigrain and white rolls are relatively high (67 and 78 respectively) as well.

I also highly recommend the cookbooks ‘The low GI diet cookbook’ and ‘The low GI vegetarian cookbook’. These are two of the best cookbooks I have ever used. So many delicious, nutritious recipes are contained in these books and the pictures that go with each recipe look so good that you actually feel inspired to cook!

So the next time you find yourself craving some fish and chips for dinner, ask yourself the following question:

‘Is this food going to leave me feeling clear headed, energized and healthy?’

If the answer is no, make sure you avoid the fish and chip shop at all costs!

Again, my advice to you is not to get bogged down with the GI values. Start by purchasing one of Jennie Brand Miller’s beautifully designed low GI cookbooks or visit one of the low GI diet websites below. Try cooking a simple low GI meal to begin with. Perhaps you could start with a tasty low GI smoothy?

Let me know how you go and feel!

Useful low GI resources

The official GI website : A website by the University of Sydney. Contains a comprehensive database, lots of useful information and you can also purchase books from this site that are suited to where you live.

Low GI iPhone application: I don’t have an iPhone, so can’t say I have used this application but I thought this looked really interesting and potentially very useful for iPhone users.

Low GI Recipes : Several easy to make low GI recipes.

My mum and I were lucky enough to bump into Dr Dingle at university today, where he told us all about his book. I have to admit when he told me the title, I found myself thinking ‘yeah, right! Catchy title Dr D, but I hardly believe your dog eats better than me!’

So I just finished reading his book and let me just say, Dr Dingle puts forth a strong argument with solid facts. I found myself thinking by the end ‘Maybe his dog does actually eat better than me?’ which was a good thing, because I know there is room for improvement. He has expanded my mind once again!

For instance, I have always eaten a lot of bread and pasta. This wasn’t a problem for me because I thought ‘hey, I’m Italian and plus, it’s wholemeal! The food pyramid tells me I need 6-11 servings of breads, rice, cereals, etc. So it’s OK!’

But then Dr Dingle tells us about the ‘food pyramid’ and how it came to be. Apparently it was established by Kellog’s (the grain industry) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture in the 1950s. Take a look at the bottom of the pyramid. Do you see grains? Yes, the pyramid tells us we should be eating grains the most! Dig in!

Dr Dingle however points us to the Harvard School of Public Health that states this is not correct. The Harvard School of Public Health actually provide us with another, new and improved food pyramid that is actually based on the latest and best science. Very impressive.

In summary, I have read several of Dr Dingle’s books before and thoroughly enjoyed them. When Dingle writes you can’t help by feel inspired and motivated to make positive changes in your life.

His latest book is however different to the others. It’s still upbeat and certainly motivating, but this one is not as long (it will take you about one hour to read). It’s also full of colourful, quirky illustrations that will make you smile and laugh out loud.

Did I ever get a photographic memory from doing Mega Memory as a child? I’m afraid not. Perhaps a better question to ask is, did the program help me to improve my memory? You bet. Let’s face it, there was nothing new or particularly special about the information contained in Mega Memory. All Mr Trudeau did was package a bunch of memory techniques (that have been around for well over a century) nicely together. More importantly and impressively, he managed to get millions of people (my dad and I included) excited about learning more about the human mind and memory. He sparked curiosity in us and forced us to think about how far we could push ourselves mentally and what was possible. To be engaged in this kind of conversation as a child was priceless.

I have to hand it to Mr Trudeau, he knew a thing or two about effective learning. In lesson 1 of his program he sets out some really smart ‘ground rules’ for studying his program. These are:

Take a 10 minute break between lessons

No heavy eating before going through a lesson

No alcohol or drugs before going through a lesson

No sugar or white flour before going through a lesson

Most of us know the effect of eating too much sugar or a greasy, heavy meal before studying or working – we can become ineffective, lack concentration, have a poor memory, feel agitated, etc. Mr Trudeau’s ground rules do not and should not be limited to studying memory techniques, but applied to all areas of our lives.

He also knew about the importance of taking baby steps to slowly build confidence. One of the first memory techniques his program teaches is the peg-word mnemonic. In my opinion, it is the simplest memory technique to learn (it takes about 5 minutes to learn). I often teach students this technique in workshops for several reasons. Firstly, it helps them to memorise lists of information really easily and quickly. Secondly, it shows students how they learn information best and thirdly, it builds their confidence. Once they realise ‘Hey, this actually works! I can do this!’, they are more open to learning about other strategies that will make a difference to their studies and life.

I don’t know if I ever did improve my memory by ’500%’. In fact, it doesn’t matter at all if I did or didn’t. As skeptical as I am of smooth, charismatic salesmen like Kevin Trudeau, I have to say that his product (Mega Memory) contained some good ideas and techniques that did inspire me as a child and continue to inspire me.

When I’m not being a responsible driver and/or looking after my car, life never seems to work as well. Similarly, when I’m not looking after my mind by eating the right foods that will fuel it, life especially doesn’t work.

For years I ate greasy foods on a regular basis. One night my family and I would have McDonalds, a few days later I would have Hungry Jacks for lunch and when I got tired of these fast food places, I made my way to the local fish and chip shop. It probably won’t surprise you that feeling sluggish and having poor concentration was the norm for me throughout my days at primary and high school. I only realised how abnormal this feeling was when I finally got sick of eating greasy food, started exercising regularly and switched over to a healthier, more natural diet.

Friend and University Professor Dr Peter Dingle says,

“A healthy diet can enhance your mental acuity and reduce or prevent brain decline. A functioning brain relies on healthy building blocks and a healthy fuel source. As a result, good nutrition and exercise are critical for a good memory”

So what are these “healthy fuel sources” Dr Dingle says we should be eating? Below is a list of some of them.

Public speaker/nutritionist Helen Frost says simply in her public talks that we have two basic groups of foods – live foods and dead foods. Live foods are the most natural foods (i.e. anything grown on a tree or from the ground) and these make our bodies feel happy and strong. Whereas dead foods are those that have been heavily processed and these result in sad, degenerated bodies over time. When we go shopping for groceries we should always consider selecting live foods (that’s fruits and vegetables) over dead foods (i.e. microwave dinners, frozen pizzas, white bread).

Below are some frequently asked questions on diet/nutrition by students

How many vegetables and fruits should I be having each day?
5 – 9 cups (predominantly of vegetables).

What are the best drinks to have?
Water, green tea, apple juice (with no added sugar) and herbal tea. Avoid soft drinks. Cans of soft drink contain on average 11 teaspoons of sugar, caffeine, acid, artificial colours, and preservatives (all of these ingredients are a recipe for disaster if you are going to study or take a test) and take 3 km of walking to burn off! Students should be sipping on water every 20 minutes to keep their brains hydrated. Often when we have trouble studying, it is because we simply need some water.

I heard fish is really good for you. Why?
Certain types of fish (i.e. salmon, sardines, cod and tuna) contain a fatty acid called omega 3. Studies have found omega 3 helps students to concentrate, memorise information better and combat fatigue.

I don’t like fish. What else can I eat to improve my memory and concentration? Walnuts, cabbage, broccoli, strawberries and raspberries are all excellent sources of omega 3.

Is it ok for me to drink tea or coffee when I am studying for exams?
I try to avoid drinking tea and coffee at all costs and encourage other students to do the same. Tea and coffee contain caffeine which is a stimulant drug that is likely to increase your anxiety levels and may induce insomnia. You don’t want to feel tired and stressed out studying for exams. This will result in your brain having difficulty processing and recalling information.

What about energy drinks?
These drinks are no different to drinking a strong cup of coffee. Avoid them and you’ll feel better for it.