NPO warns against cheap, convenient food
South Africans urged to make healthier lifestyle choices in 2020, especially when it comes to food.
Witkoppen Clinic, a Johannesburg-based non-profit organisation, urged South Africans to make healthier lifestyle choices, especially when it comes to food.
“While cheaper foods like maize meal or white rice may make you feel fuller, their nutritional value is very low,” said Elmaré Theron, a registered dietician at Witkoppen Clinic.
Rather cook oats or samp and beans, and buy vegetables in bulk – this costs about the same, but goes much further in terms of keeping you healthy.”
She offered advice on how to follow a healthy diet at an affordable price:
1. Choose whole foods: Foods that have undergone excessive processing lose their nutritional value. Choosing whole foods, like butternut or potato with the skin on, ensures a healthy, nutrient-rich diet.
2. Include protein with every meal: Protein is essential for building and repairing tissues, muscles and skin. You only need to eat a small amount of protein every day for normal body function. Legumes, such as kidney beans, split peas and lentils are affordable, highly nutritious and good-quality protein sources, as is Inkomazi .
3. Eat tinned fish three times a week: Dark-fleshed fish is a good source of both protein and omega 3 fatty acids, which have important anti-inflammatory properties.
4. Spread out starch portions: Diets high in refined starches are linked to a higher risk of diabetes and heart disease. Refined starch can cause blood sugar to spike rapidly and then fall sharply – a huge risk for people with diabetes and pre-diabetes, since their bodies can’t efficiently remove sugar from the blood. For a healthy alternative, pick whole source starches, like mielies and brown rice, and only eat small quantities three to five times a day.
