Pastiche with Virginia Hill
Winter and obese oldies
With the advent of winter comes comfort food – warming soups, hearty casseroles and old-fashioned desserts with lashings of cream, coupled with a disinclination to walk rather than drive. So the ‘News Brief’ that caught my eye last month was that obese oldies are a national worry as almost one million Australians aged over 55 are seriously over weight, or more than one in five of our senior people.
Their number has trebled over the past 20 years due to the combined effect of an ageing population (Australians can now expect to live to an average of 80 years) and the obesity epidemic. Older Australians are currently about six to seven kilos heavier on average than their counterparts 20 years ago.
As a consequence, seniors are at greater risk of ill health from chronic diseases such as diabetes, disability and social impairment, which has implications for health care costs, for carers and aged care services. The statistics show that at least 1400 Victorians will die annually as the result of overweight and obesity, which is alarming when compared with 324 deaths from the road toll.
For readers who may be concerned about their weight, the body mass index (BMI) is the most common way of estimating obesity and it is calculated as a person’s weight divided by their height, squared. Obesity is defined as a BMI of 30 or more. A simpler method is to measure your waist circumference, which for women should be no more than 88cm and 102cm for men. You will be surprised by what your results tell you.
Why has this increase in obesity occurred? Well the overall picture tracks a persistent increase in energy or food intake, combined with, at best, no increase in this trend. For instance we are eating out more often, using the computer recreationally (a sedentary occupation) and watching more television, whilst using a multiplicity of labour saving devices (such as self-locking car doors) which diminish physical activity.
Because we are less active it doesn’t take a lot of food to make a difference – if a person drives instead of walks for 20 minutes a day they will store an additional 108 kilojoules and so gain 2kg a year.
Watching three hours of television a day is enough to increase weight by 3 kgs a year, so you can see that it doesn’t take much food to pile on extra kilos.
Given the fact that genetically speaking we are programmed to store fat, paired with the reality that lifestyles in the developed world have become extremely unnatural, the best thing we can do is to take control of our own food by shopping fresh, reading labels carefully and making better meal choices when we eat out.
Use your microwave often to cook vegetables such as pumpkin in their skins to a puree consistency, then add stock and seasonings to rev up fresh, billing and healthy soup to cut winter appetites.
Keep fit this winter by including fresh fish three times a week; it will cook without odour in your microwave in 2 to 3 minutes and deliver the omega 3 fats that contribute to good health.
Poach seasonal or dried fruits without the addition of sugar for warm winter desserts and swirl with quality yoghurt to serve.
Try this easy trio of recipes to get started:
PUMPKIN SOUP PRONTO (4 serves)
1, 500g butternut pumpkin, pierced several times
2 cups hot chicken stock
1 tbs chopped chives
Seasoning to taste, yoghurt to serve
• Place prepared pumpkin on the edge of the turntable and zap on High (100%) for 10 minutes or until skewer soft.
• When cool enough to handle cut in half, scoop out pureed flesh and place in a microwave safe glass jug.
• Stir in the stock, chives and season to taste.
• Cover and cook on High (100%) for 5 minutes.
• Stir and serve with a swirl of yoghurt.
FAST FISH FOR ONE
1 fish fillet approximately 150g
1 tbs mayonnaise
1 tsp capers
1 tsp dill chopped
• Spread fillet with mayo, sprinkle with capers and dill. Place prepared fish on a plain entrée plate.
• Cover and cook on High (100%) for 1 and 1/2 minutes.
• Stand for half a minute before serving with steamed vegetables.
DESSERT PEARS POSTHASTE (Serves 2)
1/2 cup chopped dates
2 tablespoons finely chopped walnuts
1 tbs honey
1/2 teaspoon mixed spice
2 pears, cored
Yoghurt to serve.
• Mix the first 4 ingredients together.
• Fill each pear with half of the date and walnut mixture.
• Cover and cook on High (100%) for 4 minutes.
• Stand for 4 minutes. Serve with vanilla yoghurt.
For older Australians who want to ‘Eat Well for Life’, a practical free guide to the dietary guidelines is available on 1800 020 103.
Meantime, make sure you keep away from the 1750 snack food lines in your local supermarket!
• Contact Virginia Hill at her Cooking Centre, 10c Cromwell Road, South Yarra, 3141, telephone 9804 7235, email: virginiahill@i.net.au Use the same contact details for copies of 'Zap to the Max' $19.95 plus $5 delivery charge. Virginia also presents a radio show on 3RPH every Tuesday morning, beginning on 6 April, 2004.
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