User's comments:
Health24 received two e-mails from this user. In the first, she specified what she generally used to eat, and in the second, she indicated how her meal plan has changed:
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First daily intake
Breakfast: Kellogg's All Bran with 2% milk
Mid-morning snack: apple; green tea
Lunch: fish (grilled/baked), lamb or chicken (steamed); vegetables, potato
Mid-afternoon snack: banana; green tea
Dinner: yoghurt (Gero); vegetables; green tea
Second daily intake
Breakfast: 40g Kellogg's All Bran Flakes with 2% milk; rooibos tea with 2% milk
Mid-morning snack: apple (or any other fruit); green tea
Lunch: chicken, meat of fish; vegetables (carrots, baby marrows, broccoli etc.); potato or rice; rooibos tea with 2% milk
Mid-afternoon snack: banana (or other fruit); green tea
Dinner: yoghurt; vegetable salad; fruit, green tea
Before I go to bed I drink one cup of rooibos tea. I exercise for approximately 25 minutes every day – training on a Twist & Sculpt machine. I am 1.66m tall and weigh 56kg. I have lost the extra kilos and do not want to lose any more weight. I only want to maintain my weight. Am I eating enough, is this balanced and will it help maintain my weight?
Expert's comments:
Thank you for your mails and apologies for the delay in responding. I have adjusted my feedback slightly in considering your updated menu (second daily intake).
In maintaining weight, the combination of balanced nutrition and regular physical activity or exercise is essential. Your daily exercise is an excellent way to ensure that you continue to build and maintain muscle mass and burn fat.
With summer here, you may want to vary your programme a little to include more outdoors activities. Remember that whatever you choose to do, make sure you enjoy it. Try to also be more active on a day-to-day basis, e.g. climbing the stairs vs. taking the lift, walking to the shops, doing chores around the house, doing gardening etc.
If time is limited, the same health benefits enjoyed from 30-60 minutes of exercise a day can also be obtained from splitting your allocated exercise time up throughout the day, e.g. 2 sessions of 15 minutes instead of 1 session of 30 minutes.
You are eating 5 times a day which is the perfect way to maintain constant blood sugar and energy levels.
It is unclear from your menu how much you are eating at each meal. Portion control, as well as listening to your body’s queues for when you are hungry or full, is necessary in maintaining your desired weight. Dish up as much as you think will satisfy you but remember that your eyes may be larger than your stomach – rather underestimate than overestimate your needs. Enjoy meal times and the plate dished up for you and avoid going for second helpings.
Here is a helpful guide to visualise portion sizes without having to measure any of the food:
CARBOHYDRATES/ STARCH: Approximately the size of your fist; a tennis ball; 1 slice of bread
PROTEIN: The palm to length of your hand (no thicker than the ‘pinky joint’); 1-2 packs of cards
FRUIT: Size of your fist; a tennis ball
VEGETABLES: Unlimited
DAIRY: 1 cup low fat milk; 1 small tub low fat/ fat free yoghurt; matchbox block of cheese; 250-300ml drinking yoghurt
FAT: 1-2 level teaspoons oil (canola/ olive), ‘lite’ margarine, butter, peanut butter, regular mayonnaise; 1 tablespoon reduced oil/ ‘lite’ mayonnaise and salad dressing; ¼ medium avocado; any spreads ‘thinly’ on breads/ crackers; 1 small handful of nuts or seeds
With regards to balanced, healthy nutrition, try to ensure that you vary your food choice as well as your methods of cooking. This will keep your meals interesting and appetising and you will be more likely to continue eating healthily.
Apart from grilling and steaming, other appropriate preparation methods include baking in the oven, braaiing, stir-frying, poaching, boiling and roasting. Use herbs, spices, lemon juice, Balsamic vinegar and olive oil to flavour your meals.
I am happy with your breakfast and lunch choices as they contain a lean protein, a fibre-rich starch/ carbohydrate and a little fat. Regarding dinner, perhaps you need to consider a carbohydrate, e.g. some fibre-rich crackers or a slice of wholewheat/ low-GI toast with a low-fat topping.
Carbohydrate is not only your body’s first source of energy but it is also ‘protein sparing’, i.e. when you don’t eat carbohydrate, your body’s muscle is broken down for energy instead of being preserved and maintained.
Well done for including more fruit. You are meeting the recommended 5-a-day now and eating a variety of different fruits and vegetables to provide much needed vitamins and minerals.
Here are some ideas for healthy snacks:
Fresh fruit or fruit salad. Low fat/ fat free yoghurt and mixed seeds can be added over the fruit.
Dried fruit rolls, sticks and bars – e.g. SAD mebos sticks/ bars
Health bars – e.g. Woolworths Cranberry & almond bar, Apricot & sesame seed bar, Yoghurt & nut bar, Brazil nut, bran, seed & honey bar; Mixed seed bars, Jungle oats Berry/ Yoghurt/ Lite bars
1 small muffin (banana, carrot, date & nut or bran) and a fruit
175ml yoghurt or 300ml drinking yoghurt (low fat/ fat free) and a fruit
Peanuts and raisins or dried fruit and nut mix with a fruit
A slice of wholegrain bread, rice cakes, Corn thins, Provitas, Rye Crackerbreads or digestive biscuits with peanut butter and / or honey. Other toppings could include low fat cottage cheese, cheese, Oxo, Marmite, avocado pear, fish paste, jam (obviously adding tomato, lettuce and cucumber to the topping will increase the nutritional value)
Vegetable bites e.g. tomato wedges, cucumber or carrot sticks, celery sticks, baby tomatoes (fat free or low fat cottage cheese will add some taste variety)
Popcorn (made with minimal canola or olive oil)
Biltong (no fat - ostrich, game meat, lean beef)
Please look critically at your calcium intake. Generally, a woman requires approximately 1000mg calcium a day in order to preserve her bones. One glass (200ml) of low-fat milk contains approximately 240mg calcium.
If you do not eat adequate dairy (milk, yoghurt, cheese) and calcium-rich foods, you should take a calcium supplement to provide at least 800mg elemental calcium. It should also contain vitamin D and magnesium to aid calcium digestion and absorption.
Bear in mind that vitamins and minerals are always absorbed better when obtained from the actual food so please consider incorporating more low-fat dairy and calcium-rich foods (pilchards, sardines, canned salmon with the bones, tofu, fortified soya products, broccoli, carrots, green beans, oranges) into your daily eating plan.
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