Julie Meek - Sports Dietitian and Professional Speaker

Hello

I spent part of last Sunday at the local Bunning’s hardware store serving sausages in buns, with or without onions to raise money for our children’s primary school. It was fun and we raised lots of money for the school but the sheer number of sausages that flew off that BBQ plate astounded me. The sausage hot spot was there from 8 am till 3pm (when we sold out) and sold around 85 snags per hour. That’s almost one and a half per minute. At the local hardware.

The Dietitian part of me recoils somewhat given what we know about sausages but I justified it quickly by reminding myself that everyone chose to buy the sausage in a bun. Or in some cases 3 or 6. After all, I wasn’t forcing all my friends and family to go down the other fundraising route and buy a frog or 10 so I could expunge the box of 50 Giant Freddos from my house.

Sausages sizzling are one of the smells of summer and there are actually some good choices to be made, which we will investigate in this issue. Plus, you don’t need to stick to the BBQ, check out the delicious recipe for Beef Sausages with tomato, basil and pasta.

In the last issue of FoodBytes we looked at Fighting Fatigue. Something else to consider aside from regular eating and choosing healthy food is your iron intake. Iron deficiency can be a common cause of fatigue, especially with women, vegetarians and athletes and we take a look at where to find it. One in three toddlers in Australia suffer from low iron levels and this can have a huge impact on their physical and mental development.

Don’t miss the December issue of FoodBytes when Hot Strategies and Tips for Peak Performance Party-Going will be revealed.

Until then, Enjoy!

Sausage Tips and Tricks

Look for the lower fat gourmet variety of sausage that can be found at most major supermarkets or try a Chev-up Skinless Sausage. Another good find is the Steak Sausage that is made by Avon Valley Beef, check them out at www.avonvalleybeef.com.au.

Sausages do contain fat and some more than others – this gives them some of their flavour and keeps them moist. The best tip for cooking sausages is not to pierce them before or during the cooking. If you prick good quality sausages you let all the moisture and the flavour out. Poorer quality sausages will identify themselves when all the fat starts oozing out! Another tip – cook them slowly over a moderate heat. If you cook them too fast over too high a heat the skins may burst.

Beef Sausages with Tomato, Basil & Pasta

Ingredients

6 beef sausages (plain or flavoured)
500 g tortigliono or spiral pasta
1 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
8 medium roma tomatoes, chopped
2 tsp sugar
½ cup basil leaves
½ cup freshly grated Parmesan

Method

Barbecue, grill or pan-fry sausages. Put a large pot of water on to boil. Heat oil in a frypan, add onion, and cook until it is soft and golden.
Place pasta in boiling water to cook. Add the tomatoes and sugar to frypan. Cook until tomatoes are just softened. Remove frypan from heat. Slice cooked sausages. Take about half a cup of cooking water from the pasta pot, set it aside.
Drain pasta. Return pasta to pot, add sliced sausages, tomato mixture and a little of the reserved cooking water. Add basil leaves and toss to mix.
Sprinkle with Parmesan to serve.

Taken from www.themainmeal.com.au.

Do you want to be Popeye?

When I think of iron, I think of Popeye. Especially whenever spinach is mentioned in the same sentence as iron, the image that comes to mind is Popeye clutching his can of spinach and gulping it down with biceps bulging.

Sadly, Popeye did not get his iron and strength from spinach. Dietary iron is found in two forms – haem iron which is found in animal foods and non-haem iron which is found in plant foods. Spinach and silver beet provide non-haem iron, which is not well absorbed by our bodies.

Silver beet is the vegetable with big, dark green leaves and white veins that many people mistakenly call spinach. Silver beet is a close relative of spinach but spinach has a smaller flatter leaf and green veins. Both are good sources of Vitamin A and C, fibre, folate and iron.

The symptoms of iron deficiency are tiredness, breathlessness and poor immune function.

How much do we need?

Men 7mg daily
Women 12-16mg daily

Where do you get it?

Food	Amount	Iron Content
Liver	100g	11.0 mg
Lean steak	100g	4.0 mg
Chicken (dark meat)	100g	1.2 mg
Fish	100g	0.6-1.4 mg
Breakfast cereal	1 cup	2.5 mg
Spinach	2/3 cup	3.6 mg
Kidney beans	100g	2.5 mg
Almonds	50g	2.1 mg

So, you can see how tricky it can be to get enough iron. Meat-eaters will benefit from eating a lean serve of red meat 3-4 times per week.

Vegetarians need to be especially vigilant at consuming alternate sources of iron such as breakfast cereal and legumes every day.

Truth, Lies and Chocolate

My book titled Truth, Lies and Chocolate is due for release in 2 weeks time. It contains 99 Facts and Fairytales about Food and will help you discover:

Some of the things you’ve heard that are held as truth, are actually urban myths
How to get your energy high and keep it there
How to avoid spending money on ‘gimmick’ nutrition programs
Tips for getting the most from the food you eat whether you are an athlete, a Mum, a corporate executive, or Joe Bloggs.

It’s always good to find out that chocolate and red wine are a treat for your body too! Truth, Lies and Chocolate is illustrated by acclaimed West Australian artist Natalee Poli and is a great coffee table addition.

Great as a Christmas gift for friends, family and staff! Stay posted for more details.

Let me know what you want to know!

With the end of the year upon us, tactics and strategies are required to manage the marathon that is the Festive Season. I have launched a new presentation titled, Peak Performance Party-Going where I share strategies to manage the energy level of a corporate team, show them how to make the best choices to stay at their best and importantly maintain their productivity at work and above all, profit. The session is guaranteed to be entertaining and practical with a true business benefit.

If you want to know more, give me a call or send me an email at Julie@juliemeek.com.au.

The best days go the fastest. Keep up and eat well.

Until next time,
Julie