NUTRITION
“We are what we eat”, the German philosopher Feuerbach claimed.
In fact, it is through nutrition that children “build up” their body while they are growing. And it is through nutrition that adults provide the body with the energy and nutrients required to carry out all activities that make up our daily life. Any nutrient deficiencies or excesses can be dangerous to our metabolism. That is why a healthy and balanced diet is fundamental to give our body all it needs in order to operate at its best.
What is a balanced diet?
A balanced diet is one which provides all the macro and micro-nutrients that the body needs in appropriate proportions. It is not important and practically almost impossible to ensure that every meal or snack that you eat is balanced in this way. However what is important is what you eat over a period of time, normally over a number of days.
Tips for eating well:
- Base your meals on starchy foods
- Eat lots of fruit and vegetables
- Eat fish twice a week
- Eat saturated fats and sugar in moderation
- Try to eat no more than 6 grams of salt per day
- Drink plenty of water
- Don’t skip breakfast
Nutrition Wheel
A balanced diet can be obtained through the intake of a variety of foods. Every food is different and provides our body with a unique combination of nutrients. That is why varied diets are more likely to provide the complete range of nutrients needed by our body.
Nevertheless, to make our life easier, dieticians have organised the whole range of foods into a limited number of categories based upon their nutrient contents. In order to have a balanced diet, we should try to include our intake of food according to the recommended proportions of each food category.
For instance, as it appears from the food wheel above, we should eat cereals, vegetables and fruit in abundance. On the other hand, we should limit our intake of red meat to a few servings per week. Instead, we can substitute it with poultry, fish and most of all pulses, which are a great source of proteins. Fats and sugars should be eaten in moderate amounts.
In general, the following is recommended for a balanced intake:
Water – 2 litres per day
Starchy foods 33%
Fruit & vegetables 33%
Meat, fish, eggs, pulses 12%
Milk, dairy products 15%
Fats, sugars 7%
70% of our body is made of water. Water is essential for the well functioning of our metabolism. It is recommended that we should drink 2 litres of fluids per day (about 8 glasses), and even more when exercising and/or sweating a lot. From time to time we can substitute water with other drinks such as fruit juices or fizzy drinks. Nevertheless soft drinks should be consumed in moderation because they can contain a lot of sugar and they do not have the purifying qualities of fresh water.
Eating healthily means meeting 30% of our dietary needs with starchy foods such as bread, cereals, rice, pasta and potatoes. These products contain a high amount of carbohydrates, which are kinds of complex sugar. Carbohydrates provide long-term energy to our body. Moreover, these foods contain fibre, calcium, iron and B vitamins.
Most people think that starchy foods are fattening, but actually they do not contain a high amount of calories. However the way we cook (e.g. fry, grill, roast) and dress them can have a significant affect on calories. That is why it is important to learn not only what kinds of foods are most beneficial for our health, but also the best way to prepare them.
If we can, we should always choose the wholegrain variety of starchy foods. This is because they are generally richer in nutrients and they take longer to be digested, thus providing us with energy over a longer period of time.
Fruit and vegetables play an essential role in our health. In fact, they are very rich in vitamins, minerals and fibre and low in calories. A regular and balanced intake of vitamins is very important because they are essential to the proper functioning of many fundamental metabolic processes. Since most vitamins are only present in fruit and vegetables, this kind of food cannot be substituted by any other. Moreover, since the range of different vitamins is quite wide, it is important to eat many different kinds of fruit and vegetables in order to provide the micro-nutrients that our bodies need.
It is recommended that we should eat five or more portions of fruit and vegetables per day to provide our body with all the nutrients it needs. Although this might sound like a lot, it is relatively easy to meet this target. . The wide variety of fruit and vegetables readily available nowadays allows us to express our creativity in a lot of tasty recipes!
Meat, fish, eggs and pulses are all rich in protein. Proteins are important for us because they are the “building blocks” of our body. . That is why, especially at early age, it is important not to neglect the sources of proteins in our diet. Yet, it is recommended that we do not eat red meat more than twice per week. As an alternative, white meat such as chicken is readily available.
Fish is lighter than meat and generally richer in vitamins and minerals. Moreover, oily fish such as salmon, mackerel, trout, herring, fresh tuna, sardines, pilchards and eel contain omega-3 fatty acids, which are important for the health of our heart. It is recommended to eat fish on average twice a week.
Eggs and pulses are also excellent sources of protein. Although eggs are a little high in cholesterol, it is generally accepted that they can be eaten up to 3 times a week. Pulses on the other hand can be eaten as often as desired.
Milk, cheese and yoghurt are naturally nutrient-rich foods providing calcium, potassium, other minerals, vitamins, and protein essential for human growth and development. The important benefits of diets rich in calcium, especially from dairy foods, in disease prevention and bone health have long been recognized. Naturally calcium-rich milk is the most reliable source of this bone-building nutrient.
It is recommended that we should include at least 3 servings of dairy foods each day to ensure adequate consumption of important nutrients such as vitamin A, calcium, magnesium and potassium.
http://www.nationaldairycouncil.org/NationalDairyCouncil/
To stay healthy we need some fats in our diets. In fact, fat provides a concentrated source of energy supplies us with fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K and helps their absorption by the body. The fat in our diet also helps maintain healthy skin. Yet, for good health, it is necessary to pay attention to both the total amount and the types of fats in a diet. It is known that an excessive consumption of fats (especially saturated ones) is a major factor influencing obesity, high cholesterol and type 2 diabetes.
There are two main types of fats:
Saturated Fats: A diet high in fat, particularly saturated fats (and dietary cholesterol) can lead to an increase of the amount of LDL cholesterol in the blood , which increases the chance of developing heart diseases. Most saturated fats come from animal sources. They are present in common foodstuffs such as butter, cheeses, and various meat products such as pate and burgers, meat pies, sausages, etc.. . Also hard cheese, butter and lard, pastry, cakes and biscuits, cream, soured cream and crème fraîche contain saturated fats.
Cholesterol is a sterol and a lipid found in the cell membranes of all body tissues. It is vital for a normal healthy body. Most cholesterol (80%) is not dietary in origin but is produced by the liver. There are different forms of cholesterol (i.e. VLDL, LDL, HDL) which are not all “bad” for the body. The one generally referred to when talking about too high cholesterol levels in the body is the LDL which can help to cause heart diseases.
Unsaturated Fats: Most unsaturated fats come from plants, such as sunflower, olive or other vegetable oils (peanut, rape, palmolein , corn). Also oily fish, avocados, nuts and seeds contain unsaturated fats.
Palmolein is a vegetable oil that is also high in saturated fats. It also contains vitamin E.
Sugars are the main source of energy for our body. Carbohydrates, that are present in all starchy foods, are complex sugars. The difference between complex and simple sugars is that the first take longer to be digested, thus the energy provided lasts longer in our body. Simple sugars are used by the body to provide energy immediately.
The most common simple sugars are glucose (standard sugar present especially in sweets), galactose (present in milk) and fructose (present in fruit). The origin of sugar (i.e. galactose and fructose) can be natural such as in fruit or can be added during food processing in order to sweeten them and/or to give them structure, stability and texture.
Sugary and starchy foods can cause tooth decay, especially if we have them too often between meals. That is why a moderate intake as well good tooth care is of importance.
www.eatwell.gov.uk/healthydiet/eighttipssection/8tips
HEALTHY DIET
What does a healthy diet look like?
Sometimes, even if the information about food and nutrients is easily accessible, it is not simple to turn this into a balanced diet for meeting our particular lifestyles. Our modern busy schedules often do not allow enough time to cook properly, and we end up eating the first thing we come across on opening the fridge. Or otherwise, we are determined to make our diet healthy, but we simply do not know how to start.
In our links section you'll find some tips to help you out when you panic in front of the stove:
- Recipes and tips for light cooking
- New ideas to dress our food with herbs and spices instead of oil and butter
- Tips to increase our intake of fruit and vegetables to at least 5 portions per day
And also some precious information about some foods/nutrients that we should consume in moderation: salt, fat, alcohol, sugar, coffee.
|
