Food And Drink Rumours

There is no evidence that chocolate gives you spots, however chocolate does contain high levels of sugar and fat, so should be eaten occasionally within a balanced, healthy diet.

Most young people tend to get spots due to hormone changes as they go through puberty. For some people, this could be an occasional spot while for others it could be acne. It’s not to do with how much chocolate you eat!

All sugar is the same. It has the same calories and if you eat too much you are more likely to suffer with problems with your teeth and gums.

You need carbohydrates in your diet to provide energy to keep you going. If you don’t eat enough carbohydrates then you can feel tired and lack the energy to do anything.

Carbohydrates are naturally low fat foods; it’s what you do to them that makes them high in fat, such as having a jacket potato smothered with cheese, coleslaw and lots of butter, or having pasta in a rich, creamy sauce.

You can still enjoy cheese on your potato, but try and have a smaller amount and eat plenty of salad alongside it. Enjoy creamy pasta, but perhaps switch to low fat crème fraiche or Greek yoghurt as a healthier alternative.

For most people, it doesn’t matter when they eat, but what they eat over the whole day, so if you are eating three regular meals and having planned healthy snacks, your weight should be in the healthy range.

However, if you are eating three regular meals plus high fat/sugar snacks, and then having additional foods in the evening like burger and chips, you are more likely to put weight on.

If you skip breakfast, you’re more likely to snack and, because you are hungry, you will often choose high sugar/ fat snacks.

Studies have shown that people who eat breakfast every day tend to be a healthier weight compared to people who skip breakfast. Click here for more on healthy weight.

Your food intake needs to be balanced for your body to work properly, if you have a diet high in sugar and fat, even if you are very active, it will put a strain on your body.

Just because your body looks fit and healthy from the outside, the inside of your body could be showing signs of your poor diet.

This could be through poor teeth and gums, not having any energy and/or feeling tired all the time.

The Eatwell Guide is a good resource to see how much of each of the food groups you should be eating.

Increasing your protein intake will not build your muscles.

You need to do a combination of resistance training and have a diet that contains the right amount of energy and carbohydrates to meet your body’s needs.

If you don’t eat enough carbohydrates or energy rich foods then your body will use your protein intake for energy.

The less fat the milk contains, the more calcium it has.

So, semi-skimmed milk has more calcium than whole milk, and skimmed milk has more calcium than semi-skimmed milk.

Try to have three low fat dairy foods or drinks every day.

Evidence has shown that if you drink high caffeine energy drinks during revision or before an exam, you are more likely to underperform, as the energy drink slows down the pathway to process information.

Scientists think that this is due to lack of sleep, as the high caffeine energy drinks are designed to keep you awake.

Frozen vegetables can often contain more vitamins compared to fresh, as vitamins decrease in vegetables the longer they are stored.

Some vegetables take a couple of days to get to the shop and then they are stored at home for a few days before being eating, whereas frozen vegetables tend to be frozen the same day as they are picked.

This means the vitamin levels decrease very slowly in frozen foods. But whether your vegetable is frozen or fresh, it will still count to your five a day.

Overcooking vegetables, whether fresh or frozen, can destroy the essential vitamins so follow any available cooking instructions.

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