“With the long weekend coming up, I am sure you all would like to know how alcohol effects your diet! Ask our dietician, Kim today between 1 and 2pm what you should look out for when drinking alcohol.”

….and here are some of her answers:

Hi everyone. Many people use alcohol to celebrate! But can this fit into our health and weight loss plans.
The answer is definitely, but there area a couple of things to remember:
1) alcohol does contain calories – generally 1 unit is equivalent to 125ml wine, 1 tot spirits or 1/2 can beer.
2) for constant calorie intake count 1 unit of alcohol as 1 starch unit
3) 1-3 units is the maximum you should have for health per day

Q: (asked by Lwandle) Is red wine good for digestion ? Someone said drinking olive oil is good for the digestion ? Is this true ?

Answered by Kim: Alcohol per se has health benefits if you drink it in moderation. Red wine has the added antioxidants, which is why a lot of people believe it is the healthiest of the alcohols.  Wine will not help with digestion.
Olive oil contains very healthy fats, so it can be beneficial to have it daily. I however would say add it to your meals rather than eating it just like that (I just can’t imagine it being nice!!). It is better to have the oil ‘raw’ – in other words have it on salads rather than cook with it. Even if you are trying to lose weight it is absolutely fine to have some fats in the day, and it is actually quite important not to have too little fat. So if you enjoy the olive oil you will definitely doing no harm in having a spoon every day.

Q: (asked by Linda) I don’t drink alcohol but I would like to know is drinking coffee affects my weight loss or what would you suggest for me to drink as we are approaching winter to keep myself warm ?? bcos I really don’t like coffee…
Answered by Kim: Coffee or tea will not affect your weight as there are little calories in a cup of coffee (the sugar and milk that you add would be the only place where calories come from).
A moderate amount of coffee/caffeine a day is beneficial for your health, so you can enjoy some cups of tea or coffee in a day.
As a guideline we say not more than 4 cups of tea and coffee per day. However if you want to drink hot chocolate or the like you will need to work it into your daily intake as these drinks do add calories – a nice way to make hot chocolate is a cup of fat free milk with 1 tsp of hot chocolate. This could be instead of a yoghurt on those cold winter days!

Q: (asked by Royal Kandake) I am on a path of healing myself and am starting with a detox, may I please know what is “chlorophy” juice??? Can i make it or is it bought… Also please if anyone knows what is a kidney liver flush?? How does it work??

Answer by Kim: Chlorophyll juice is basically green juice – vegetable juices made from the green veggies. You can make them – you will need a juicer for that.
There are a couple of supplements that you can use for liver detox, but remember that you can aid the detox of your body just by eating no junk food and increasing your fruit and veg intake.