Heartsavers - Diet
This page is about good food to eat to stay healthy.
Why would anyone want to eat anything that's not good?
Prevention of coronary heart disease.
Good food to eat for a healthy diet
As a guide you should aim to get your daily energy needs from the following food groups:
- Fats: around 20% of your energy needs
- Carbohydrates: around 70% of your energy needs
- Protein: around 10% of your energy needs
Additionally, at least 20 grams of fiber per day, but preferably, you
should aim to eat nearer to 40 grams per day.
At this stage we could show you all the calculations you need to make in order to measure your daily food allowance, but how many people stand in the supermarket or restaurant with a slide rule and calculator?
It is much more effective to list the types of food you should eat than those you should avoid. That way as you make the changes to your diet you will intuitively know what is the right sort of food to eat.
Increase your intake of:
- All types of fruit.
- Vegetables, root vegetables, leafy green vegetables, brightly coloured vegetables (carrots, sweet peppers, etc).
- Nuts and seeds, such as sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, peanuts, almonds, walnuts, pecan nuts.
- Whole grains, such as wholemeal bread, pasta. Cereals such as rice, oats and corn.
- Starch foods such as potatoes, and the cereals as above.
- Legumes, which basically means any thing that grows in a pod such as peas, beans, lentils, chickpeas, soya products.
Eat as great a variety of the above as possible to ensure an adequate
vitamin and mineral intake, and if you can afford it you should favour
organic produce wherever possible.
Reduce your intake of:
- Meat of all types.
- Dairy products.
- Processed food, much of which contains high levels of salt and sugar.
- Foods containing "hidden fat" such as cakes, pastries, pies.
- Salt.
The Gradual Approach
It's not always easy to make lifestyle changes. Many people start off with good intentions and high spirits but often quickly revert to old habits. Also, if one family member wants to make changes but the others don't it can make it more difficult.
One way to overcome this is to gradually introduce changes. For example it's easy to change to a low fat margarine, or eat more potatoes with each meal so you will be less hungry for fatty and sweet snacks later on.
Why not switch from cows milk to soya milk? It is now widely available from most major supermarkets and health food stores. Although it takes a little getting used to, after a couple of weeks you will wonder why you did not make the switch years ago.
Introduce at least one meat free day a week, it's as easy as making a spaghetti bolognese with soya mince instead of beef mince.
Very soon you will find that you are enjoying your food more than you have for years, and reaping the health benefits.
Your Body Weight
Of course you could still gain weight even eating a low fat diet. It's a simple equation, if you consume more calories than you expend in energy the surplus will be stored in your body as fat.
To maintain your body weight you need to match your energy intake with your energy expenditure and there is just one simple rule you need to remember in order to achieve this:
EAT WHEN YOU'RE HUNGRY
DON'T EAT WHEN YOUR NOT
Vitamin Supplements
Vitamins and minerals work in conjunction with one another in the body so if you intend to take vitamin supplements the best idea is to take a good quality brand of multi-vitamins where the quantities of each vitamin will be in the correct proportions.
You could also consider taking supplements of the anti-oxidant vitamins of which there are now numerous brands on the market. Bear in mind that a well balanced diet as outlined above should provide all the vitamins and minerals needed for most people.
At this point we should mention vitamin B12 which is a vital vitamin although only minute quantities are needed and it can be stored in the liver for years. If you intend to eliminate animal produce from your diet altogether you need to ensure an adequate supply of this vitamin, although deficiency is unlikely it can be serious.
Vitamin B12 is added to many products such as fortified breakfast cereals, bread, soya milk, textured soya protein etc., but to be on the safe side it is probably a good idea to consider taking a good quality supplement.