Nutrition Breakthroughs
Clean up on aisle five Almonds are a great source of protein, healthy fats and fibre, and they’re also good for your ticker. Research in the Journal of Nutrition has revealed that eating almonds on a regular basis can increase your HDL, or “good” cholesterol levels as well as boosting your body’s in-built clean-up crew, which cleans out cholesterol from places like your arteries and transports it out of the body. This helps to decrease your overall risk of cardiovascular disease, which kills one Australian every 12 minutes. Add a handful to your daily diet.
Sweet as ■ The best reason yet to eat more fruit and veg? A study from Macquarie University, NSW, has found that men who eat a diet that’s rich in fruits and vegetables smell more attractive to women than blokes who eat a high-carbohydrate or high-fat diet. The researchers found:
CHOMP ON CHOCOLATE
MEN’S FITNESS
Ask Men’s Fitness
● Men who ate more
fruit and veg smelled more “floral” and attractive to women. ● Men who ate more refined carb-heavy foods smelled more “musty” and less attractive. ● Men who ate a lot of fish smelled less attractive than those who ate more meat, eggs or tofu.
Hey handsome. Wanna split a joint?
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Love your heart? Learn to love almonds and the beat will go on.
NOVEMBER 2017
A study on more than 55,000 people who were enrolled in the Danish Diet, Cancer and Health study that provided information on their average weekly chocolate consumption discovered that those who had two to six 30g servings a month had a 20% lower rate of the heart rhythm irregularity atrial fibrillation than those who ate less than one serving. The study also found that those who ate more chocolate also tended to be more highly educated. Which makes perfect sense to us.
I know protein builds muscle, but if I consume more, will I build more?
Only up to a point. Protein is the main ingredient in muscle fibre, but it’s only one part of a complex system of nutritional, hormonal and mechanical requirements that need to be balanced in order for muscles to grow bigger and stronger. More protein in lieu of hard training, optimal sleep and sufficient calories and micronutrients won’t lead to results. Nutrition experts calls for daily consumption of 2–3g of protein per kilo of your bodyweight. A recent study also found that subjects who took 40g whey protein postworkout didn’t see any greater gains than those who had 20g post-workout.