User's comments:
Breakfast: two slices of brown bread; fried (half-done) egg; bacon and a 350ml Coke.
Lunch: fat cake filled with mince; strawberry flavoured water and 200g eat-sum-more biscuits.
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Expert's comments:
In general, your food choices are too high in fat and sugar and lacking in fibre, vitamins and minerals.
You should try to reduce your overall fat and sugar intake as these have been implicated in contributing to the development of various diseases of lifestyle. Try to aim for ‘lower fat eating’ rather than no fat – overall fat intake should be limited but not eliminated as we all need a certain amount of fat for normal body functioning.
Limit unhealthy fats, i.e. those fats obtained from animal products (saturated fat) and hydrogenated or trans fatty acids (hard margarine, coffee creamers, coconut). Include more healthy fats, i.e. monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats from plant oils (canola oil, olive oil, avocado pear, peanut butter and nuts).
Here are some helpful hints for lowering your fat intake:
Choose low-fat or fat-free milk and dairy products, e.g. yoghurt, cottage cheese, evaporated milk. These options could replace cream in recipes.
Choose soft rather than hard margarines.
Wait until toast has cooled down before spreading margarine or butter and spread it thinly.
If you use fat, choose low-fat options for mayonnaise, salad dressing and margarine and use sparingly.
Never use two ‘fats’ to spread on your bread, i.e. margarine/ low-fat mayonnaise/ peanut butter/ avocado pear - spread thinly and use alone.
Remove all visible fat from meat before preparation. Avoid the skin of the chicken and ideally remove prior to cooking.
Aim to eat less red meat (2-3 times a week). Use lean meat options, e.g. lean mince, lean beef or lamb, ostrich, venison or soya mince. The fattiest meat is lamb, followed by beef, pork, chicken, ostrich and venison.
Eat fish (fresh or canned) 1-2 times a week.
Avoid processed meats – sausages, polony, salami.
Limit the addition of any form of extra fat during food preparation (e.g. margarine, butter, cream, mayonnaise, oil, cheese).
Use low-fat cooking methods: boil, steam, grill, braai over coals, bake in the oven, poach, stir-fry. Do not fry food. If you do need to fry food, use very little oil (canola or olive oil) or try to prepare with no oil at all.
Limit the amount of gravies and sauces.
Read food labels to assess fat content. A product is low fat if it contains < 3g fat/ 100g and fat free if it contains < 0.5g fat/ 100g. Practically, choose foods that contain fat between 3 - 10% and try to stick to about 10 - 13g fat/ meal. This can be achieved by adding only one fat to a meal and following the above-mentioned cooking methods.
Looking at breakfast, you should rather boil or poach the egg. Scrambled egg is fine as long as you use very little oil to cook it. Olive oil cooking spray is also a healthier alternative to frying in lots of oil or margarine.
Instead of drinking fizzy and sugar-laden cold drinks, choose water or diluted, unsweetened fruit juice to drink. It is essential to drink at least 6-8 glasses of clean water a day which you don’t seem to be doing. A fruit can be added and some dairy, e.g. low-fat or fat-free yoghurt or milk.
Regarding your lunch, the ‘vetkoek’ should be replaced with wholewheat, low-GI or brown bread or rolls. Include some raw vegetables, e.g. slices of tomato and cucumber and a fruit.
Biscuits have very little real nutritional value and tend to be full of unhealthy fats and sugar. Keep cookies and biscuits to a treat and eat them in small quantities on the odd occasion. Opt for healthy snacks in between your meals instead.
Examples of healthy snacks could include:
1 medium fresh fruit
Fruit salad (low-fat/ fat-free yoghurt and mixed seeds can be added)
Dried fruit rolls, sticks and bars, fruit dainties
1 small banana, carrot, date & nut or bran muffin (size of your fist or a tennis ball)
175ml yoghurt or 300ml drinking yoghurt (low-fat/ fat-free)
Nuts, peanuts and raisins, dried-fruit-and-nut mix (1 handful)
Vegetable bites, e.g. tomato wedges, cucumber or carrot sticks, celery sticks, baby tomatoes
Popcorn (made with minimal oil)
Your meals are definitely lacking in fibre. Foods that are rich in fibre are more filling and in most cases are less energy dense and contain more vitamins and minerals than lower fibre products.
Fibre helps to ensure regular bowel movements and has various health advantages, including a role in reducing LDL (bad) cholesterol levels and controlling blood sugar levels. Breakfast as a meal should contribute significantly to your daily fibre requirements, which for an adult should range between 25-30g per day.
A product which provides approximately 5g fibre or more per serving is considered a good source of fibre. Good sources of fibre include vegetables (raw, frozen or cooked), fruit (fresh, canned or dried), legumes (peas, beans, lentils, baked beans, chickpeas), split peas, whole-grain breads, cereals, porridges (oats, oat bran) and seeds.
Fibre-rich cereals and porridges include Bokomo Fibre Plus, Weetbix, Kellogg’s All Bran Flakes and Pronutro (Original, Apple Bake or Wholewheat); cooked oats and oat bran served with low-fat or fat-free milk or yoghurt.
You are eating no fruit or vegetables which are the vitamin and mineral power-houses in our diets. Aim for “5-a-day” (e.g. 2 fruits and 3 vegetables – at least 1 green, and 1 orange/ yellow daily), whether cooked, raw, frozen or dried. The more varied the choice and colours, the more likely you are to be receiving a good balance of different vitamins and minerals.
Remember to eat 3 meals a day with healthy snacks in between, in combination with moderate exercise at least 3-4 times a week.
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