A Healthier You

You need to eat a balance of various food types to maintain health, vitality and weight control.

Here is some more information on fat, sugar, salt and fibre.

Fat
Fat has a variety of roles in the body including protection of vital organs, carrier for fat soluble vitamins and used as a storage form of energy. It is the densist source of energy when compared to carbohydrates and proteins. Fat weighs less than muscle so weight is not a good indicator of how fat a person is.

There are several varieties of fat which include good fats and bad fats.
Good fats are the monounsaturated fats eg in olive and canola oils and polyunsaturated fats eg oils and polyunsaturated margarines.
Bad fats which raise blood cholesterol, include saturated fats, mainly animal in origin eg butter, fatty red meats, and full-fat dairy products.
Very bad fats are the man made trans fats. Trans fats, which are created when hydrogen gas reacts with oil, are found in many packaged foods, including margarine, cookies, cakes, cake icings, doughnuts, and potato chips.

Various ways to reduce fat include:
~ cutting down on fried foods, buttered vegetable, fat on meat, cream
~ grill, roast or bake foods rather than fry.
~ steam or microwave vegetables.

Dietary Fibre
Dietary Fibre is the residue of whole grains, fruits and vegetables that the digestive enzymes in the upper intestine cannot break down and that the bacteria in the lower intestine only partially digest, hence the food components pass through the digestive system virtually unchanged. It is found in foods which grow in the ground eg vegetables, cereals ,nuts.

When you eat foods with fibre you fill up and feel satisfied for a long time and hence decrease the need to eat as much. It also absorbs water which helps cure constipation with soft, bulky faeces.

So you can increase your fibre consumption by using wholegrain / high fibre bread instead of white. wholemeal flour instead of white flour, high fibre cereals like weetbix and porridge, and brown rice instead of white rice.

Sugars
These are simple carbohydrates used in most desserts and confectionary and is the main cause of weight gain for most people. There is a range of processed foods that have hidden sugars in eg tomato sauce.canned soups.

Please note that carbohydrates are compounds of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen in the form of starches and sugars. Starches are the energy-boosting complex carbohydrates eg grains, legumes, vegetables and some fruits.

You need to keep sugars in balance so as to avoid risks of prediabetes and diabeies and other conditions. Take a look at this to learn how to balance your blood sugars.

Salt
Salt is a source of sodium which is an essential mineral. You need very little sodium in your diet, around 1/2 to 1 1/2 teaspoons. There is also some sodium found in most foods, from fresh vegetables to cakes. Sodium is also used to process and preserve foods eg meats, fish, poultry, cheeses.

If you have too much sodium in the diet you could increase the risk of hypertension and high blood pressure which can lead to heart attack, stroke and kidney disease. One way of reducing sodium is to cut down on salt eg do not add to cooking and reduce consumption of the above mentioned foods.




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