Patricia Thompson - NUTRITION TALK HAVE YOU been thinking recently about your eating habits and considering that you should try to change how you eat for the better? Perhaps someone in the family has developed one of the chronic disorders and you have heard that these conditions often run in families and you would like to reduce your risk of becoming the next victim.
That's good thinking because nutritional imbalance is now considered the underlying cause of many of the disease scourges of modern society. Many studies show that if you eat right you will reduce your risk for getting the chronic diseases. But what does it mean to eat right?
EATING RIGHT
You may have consulted a nutrition text and read that eating right means getting enough food and in the right combinations to meet caloric and nutrient needs of people. Further, you may have seen the nutrition guidelines by the World Health Organisation (WHO) but you may not understand this. Many persons interpret eating right as deprivation since you are always being told what not to eat. Nutrition professionals have expressed the WHO guidelines into practical dietary guidelines which you may find easier to follow. Each of
the WHO guidelines below is followed by a complementary interpretation.
NUTRITION GUIDELINES
1. Limit caloric intake to maintain healthy weight.
Eat three to four small to medium-sized meals daily with fruits as snacks along with moderate daily activity.
2. Limit fat intake to less than 30 per cent of calories. Bake, broil or steam meat, fish, vegetables in their natural fat/oil rather than frying and add herbs and seasoning for flavour rather than additional fat.
3. Limit saturated fat to less than 10 per cent of calories. For an active person, intake of foods from animals should not exceed six ounces of red meat or the equivalent daily. Sedentary persons may need to have less.
4. Limit cholesterol intake to 300mg or less daily. For the average diet, foods high in cholesterol like eggs and organ meats such as liver should be eaten in total only two to three times weekly. Use legumes as an alternate source of protein, for example, replace one-half the amount of meat usually eaten with dried peas and beans.
5. Carbohydrate intake should be 50 - 60 per cent of calories. At least one-half to two-third of your meals should be of plant-based foods and these should not be highly processed or refined.
6. Limit refined sugar to 10 per cent of calories. For the average diet, this equates to three tablespoons of sugar daily or the sugar contained in 16 ounces of soft drink or 11 ounces of commercial juice. Drink water to quench your thirst.
7. Limit sodium intake to 2000mg or less daily. At least one-half the volume of food eaten should be fresh foods rather than preserved foods. One level teaspoon of salt added
to cooking will provide 2000mg
sodium.
8. Increase fibre intake to at least 20g daily. Whole grain cereals, provisions and legumes are the preferred source of complex carbohydrates and use fresh fruits and vegetables to pacify your sweet tooth.
In the Caribbean, we recommend that you select and prepare your meals using foods from the six food groups. These are the staples, legumes, foods from animals, vegetables, fruits and fats/oils. To adjust quantities and combinations to meet individual needs, you should consult a registered nutrition professional.
Patricia Thompson M.Sc., Registered Nutritionist, Nutrition and Diet Services.
