POLOKWANE – Your diet needs to provide your body with the correct energy, nutrients, and fiber to be healthy, in other words provide adequate nutrients to keep you healthy.
Eating the right amounts of food to maintain a healthy body weight is the basis for healthy eating and living. Eating the correct portions of different food groups (a moderate intake diet) and avoid over eating is essential.
It is important to include all the different types of food groups (starches, meats, dairy, fruits, vegetables and fats) with a good variety from each group (for example not only apples, but different fruits every day). This will ensure your diet is balanced and varied providing your body with all the energy and nutrients (fiber, vitamins and minerals) to function at it’s best – making you feel happy and keeping you healthy.
Follow these tips to balance your diet:
- You can eat the right amounts of food to prevent weight gain by eating foods that you enjoy in smaller quantities. For example: do not stop eating chocolates when you want to lose weight, because it will just make you crave chocolates even more. Rather follow a balanced diet with a small piece of chocolate, not a slab, every other day.
- Increase your intake of fruit and vegetables by filling half of your plate with food from these two food groups for all meals. Not only are they packed with vitamins, minerals, and fiber, these foods are relatively low in calories compared to other food groups.
- Make sure half of the starches that you eat are whole grains, because the high fiber content will fill you faster and keep you satisfied for longer. Remember to limit portions to a quarter of your plate for meals to keep the right balance with other food groups.
- Choose lean meats, poultry without skin, fish, plant proteins like lentils, split beans, or dry beans and nuts to fill up the last quarter of your plate. These foods provide your body with proteins that are the building block of the body as they help build and repair many body tissues and muscles. Limit intake of red meats, cheese, and processed meats (like bacon and cold cuts).
- Use two to three cups of fat-free of low fat dairy products to minimise your fat intake.
- Drink 2l to 3l of water daily instead of sugary drinks. Sugary drinks together with other high sugar and high fat foods are also known as empty calories, because it only provides your body with calories, but no vitamins, minerals, or fiber to benefit your health. Other empty calorie foods to avoid are cakes, cookies, pastries, fizzy cold drinks, energy drinks, sports drinks, and fruit drinks (contain added sugars), to name a few.
Last but not least, it is important to remember that any diet plan or quick fix diet that excludes a food group might give you fast weight loss results, but these are only temporary in most cases and you could do permanent damage to your health.
For more information or to find a dietician in your area visit www.adsa.org.za and stay healthy.
Prevention is better than cure!
