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Breaking story in NZ Herald today about Weight Watcher's Points appearing on selected menu items at McDonald's in NZ. Many people's reactions... what the?

I'm not surprised, given the shift towards offering "healthier for you" choices at McDonalds and other fast food outlets.

Watch the Today Tonight 'McHealthy' story - Wed 3rd March 

So, what are the positives here?

> Highlights healthier menu options.

> Educates people on Weight Watchers Points (roughly 70 Cal / 300 kJ per Point), which is a simple guide to count energy intake.

> May shift food choices towards lower calorie, healthier choices.

But now the negatives

> More families will go to McDonald's because there is something for everyone on the menu. Mum can have a healthy option, but Dad can keep eating the high-calorie burgers.

> More meals get eaten at McDonald's with a decline in food knowledge and cooking skills. 

>  New 'dieting' customers try to choose the healthier option but get hijacked once they are in the door and opt for less healthy choices. You'll need strong willpower to resist tempting posters of chocolate desserts with taglines like "Treat yourself".

> The Weight Watchers Points system gives diet soft drinks a zero point score, driving increased consumption. 

> If only the healthier, lower point options are labelled and promoted, you won't be shown how many Points are in high-calorie options. A Big Mac has 9 Points, a large fries has 6.5 Points and a large thick shake has 8 Points. That's 23.5 Points in total in just one meal and well above a whole day's energy intake in the typical 18 Point Weight Watchers diet plan.

I'm a fan of Weight Watchers' nutrition education, but not of some aspects of the Points system. Points relate for the most part to total calories and make calorie counting seemingly simpler, however they can be abused.

Many times, I've heard the humorous comment, "My Points are perfectly balanced. I have 9 Points of food and 9 Points of alcohol."

Points don't have to be balanced in terms of food groups and nutrient-rich eating to make the system work.  

I'm biased because I teach an Exchange system that provides an optimum balance of nutrient-rich foods from all food groups - Vegetables, Fruit, Dairy, Protein, Starches, Healthy Oils and Extras.*

If McDonald's wanted to label ALL their menu items with MJ Exchanges and show customers how Exchanges apply, this is still simple and is less open to abuse.

I'm not pitching for this, but I've seen how confident people become about nutrition and managing their own diet when they know what food groups are and the correct amounts to eat.

I'll be creating an MJ Exchange Guide for McDonald's foods. With so many menu items, it will happen in stages. I'll alert you when it's ready.

In the meantime, I hope the marketers in the WW-McD's meetings rethink their plans. 

*Sure, Protein and Starch are not actually food groups. They are nutrients, but Protein covers vegetarian protein options and Starch includes potatoes and other starchy vegetables as well as cereals and grains to keep it simple. 

Sherry just asked this one in the MJ Discussion forum. It's perhaps my favourite nutrition question.

Q: When is the latest time I should make my last meal?

A: This question actually, really asks... "Will food I eat at night turn into fat?" It will if what you eat at night pushes you up over your calorie limit or 'calorie cap' (as I call it).

Consider the following two scenarios:

(1) Over your calorie cap at night - You eat breakfast on Target, have your morning snack on Target, you eat lunch on Target, but you have a blow-out mid-afternoon and eat a packet of crisp and can of regular soft drink. You follow this up with an early (6pm) pizza for dinner because you consider you've blown your diet. You don't eat anything after dinner.

(2) Under your calorie cap at night - You eat breakfast on Target, you skip your morning snack, have a light lunch (less than your Targets), eat your afternoon snack on Target and then eat dinner on Target, but late at 10pm because you had to stay at work to complete a job.

In the first scenario above, you've obviously overeaten during the day, so although you don't eat anything after 6pm, you'll gain body fat.

In the second scenario, you are still short of your Exchanges and your calorie cap, even though you don't eat until late at night. In this case you finish your day and go to bed under your calorie cap so you lose body fat.

In summary, its not how late at night you eat that causes you to gain or lose body fat. It's how you are placed relative to your calorie limit for the day.

On Friday, I spoke all day at a seminar, so by the time I came to dinner later that night I had lots of Exchanges left in my diet so I could eat more at night, being confident the food would not be turned into body fat. I was under my calorie cap.

So, with regards to gaining body fat its not whether the food eaten at night is any more likely to turn into body fat. It's a case of whether you are still under your calorie cap for the day.

This said, the old saying is a good guide, "Breakfast for a king, lunch for a prince and dinner for a pauper." At night, you won't be expected to need too much energy from food, so don't eat too much.

A good guide for dinner is, catch up on your nutrition (its the last chance to hit your Exchange Targets) and eat enough to get to sleep without being too hungry. Simple!

The exception is for athletes who need to carbohydrate load and eat big after an afternoon or evening training session.

I hope this logic puts things in perspective. Nutrition is complex but with Metabolic Jumpstart I aim to make it simple.

Thanks to Sarah McNaughton for the alert about a story on Media Watch last night about the 'facts' of a lapband obesity surgery report for teens in the media last week. 

Watch it here:

 http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/s2820435.htm

 Before anyone considers surgery, please consider a Metabolic Jumpstart. Week 2 shows you how to Re-Wire Your Appetite. In some cases you may not need banding after this. 

If you want to get daily (well, most days I'm sure) updates on what I'm doing with Metabolic Jumpstart, get special offers (from time to time), see food and recipe photos (just before I eat them) and breaking research news about how to optimise your metabolism... then follow me on Twitter.

Here's my Twitter page:

www.twitter.com/matthewoneill 

Please tell your family and friends to follow too. 

We had this salad on Australia Day. Yes, it is from Jamie Olivers latest book, Jamie's America, but it goes just as well here. Who would have thought water melon, chilli, seeds and olive oil would create such a nutrient-rich party in your mouth.

I've just posted this, so I'll add the MJ Exchanges later tonight. 

Water Melon Salad

Ingredients

1 Large handful of pumpkin seeds

1 Large handful of sunflower seeds

Olive oil

Sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Chilli powder

1/2 Small water melon

150g hard goats cheese

1 Small bunch of fresh mint leaves

3 Spring onions, trimmed & finely sliced

2 limes

Method

Put a frying pan on medium heat and add pumpkin and sunflower seeds with a drizzle of olive, pinch of salt, pepper and chilli powder.

Toss and fry for a few minutes. Once the seeds are lightly coloured and toasted, take the pan off the heat and put to one side.

Chop the water melon into chunks after taking out any seeds and removing the skin.

Chop the goats cheese into chunks too.

Put water melon into a bowl and most of the mint leaves and all of the sliced spring onions.

Squeeze over the juice of the limes, a drizzle of olive oil, a pinch of salt and pepper. Then toss everything together.

Arrange your dressed water melon mixture on a platter or divide between plates.

Add the chunks of cheese and scatter over the toasted seeds.

Sprinkle over the remaining mint leaves. 

Source - Jamies America by Jamie Oliver, Penguin 2009 

"When you maximise your metabolism you see automatic fat burning results. Follow my rules in 2010 and make this year your most nutritious and fittest year ever."

1.    Eat enough

When you eat well below your physiological needs it triggers your body to go into starvation mode. Don't detox! Don't do crazy low-energy diets as within 24 hours your metabolic rate falls. You are then more likely to store any excess energy and will find it harder to get lean.

 2.    Master your appetite

You've got dozens of appetite hormones and chemicals that get hotwired when you over eat. Sure, you may have indulged at Christmas but with a fresh year it's time to stay within the feed limit. You'll get back in sync with your natural hunger chemistry which will tell you when you really need to eat and when you should stop.

3.    Switch to nutrient rich

Fad diets may cut calories which strips weight off, but going without one or more food groups also starves your body of key nutrients that help you burn more fat.

For example, dairy food contains calcium and other chemicals that help fat cells release fat. Nuts like almonds, walnuts and cashews are hard to digest and give your metabolic rate a slight boost. Wholegrain carbohydrates have antioxidants that fight low-level inflammation that can cause weight gain.

So, make sure your fat loss menu has vegetables, fruits, dairy, wholefood proteins, wholegrain starches and healthy oils.

4.    Move your muscles more

By keeping active you keep millions of tiny mitochondria in body cells firing and burning calories every second of every day. Sitting for too long switches off mitochondria, so if you have a desk job, jump up every 30 minutes for a stretch and walk.

For regular exercisers, move your effort level up a notch. If you've got room to boost your intensity you will be rewarded with great calorie burning and automatic metabolic fitness.

If your workouts are "comfortably challenging" move up to "somewhat hard". If your effort is already "somewhat hard" notch it up to ‘hard'. For the same time, you'll see fast results and spark more mitochondria

5.    Outsmart Stress

Any biological stress, including emotional pressure, dietary deprivation and excessive exercise triggers the release of the hormone, cortisol. Known as the stress hormone, cortisol can cause abdominal obesity, increased food cravings and inflammation.

This is another reason to eat well, avoid over-exercising and try not to become a gym-junky. Set a plan to outsmart stress this year, by taking more opportunities, no matter how small, to refresh. Life is busy, but mini-escapes work wonders to recharge your batteries.

Best wishes for making metabolism matter again in 2010. If you'd like a diet plan to maximise your metabolism, click here to learn more about my Metabolic Jumpstart.