Nutritionist Penny Small has opened a new practice in Mudgee, encouraging people to ‘start over’ their eating habits on a healthier track.
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For the last 12 months, Ms Small has been running a ‘start over’ program at the local medical centre, working in groups or one-on-one to break down people’s diets and rebuild them in a healthier form.
The change of diet helped participants lower their blood pressure and blood sugar levels, and most participants lost 10 kilograms in eight weeks, with some losing more than 30 kilograms.
“It’s been really quite astonishing,” Ms Small said.
Now, Ms Small has taken her practice into its own office, putting up the Start Over sign in Lovejoy Village in Mudgee.
The aim is to help people feel good, be healthy and minimise the risks associated with being overweight.
For the first time in history, she said the current generation was likelier to predecease its parents due to increasingly unhealthy modern lifestyles.
Ms Small said people had more choices for food but were more confused about which was best.
We’re surrounded by easy, cheap food, and we live in a stressful environment, and that’s not going to change.
For example, while low-fat yoghurts might seem a healthier option, they are often high in sugar to enhance the flavour.
However, she said discerning choices could be even more effective than smaller portions in improving health - for example, choosing brown bread over white bread to lessen the risk of bowel cancer and improve fibre and nutrient intake.
“We’re surrounded by easy, cheap food, and we live in a stressful environment, and that’s not going to change,” Ms Small said.
“It’s been a lifetime goal to really understand the complexity of the problem and that it needs attention every day.”
Ms Small is the author of a cookbook, The Food Lover’s Diet, that shows healthy food can taste delicious, and headed the corporate nutrition team at Nestle, helping the company’s transition from coffee and chocolate to a focus on health and wellness.
She said people could still enjoy food while adopting a healthier diet.
“Food is delicious, and a lot of dieting has been maligned because people see it as something that can get a bit extreme,” she said.
However, Ms Small said it was important - especially in a food and wine loving area such as Mudgee - to find a way for people “to have your wine and eat it too.”
