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Good food, bad food
It can be really complicated (and boring) trying to decide what is "healthy" when it comes to food.
This - hopefully - is a simple way of explaining and remembering.
There are different food types.
Fruit and vegetables - really good for you as they don't make you fat and they are packed with vitamins and minerals.
Energy foods - these tend to be our "fillers" like bread, potatoes, rice, pasta and cereals. Some people think they make you fat, but it's usually what you put on them that is fattening ie butter, creamy sauces and cheese.
Milk and dairy foods (butter, cheese, cream, yogurt). These foods contain calcium, proteins and vitamins which we all need. They also contain fat in varying quantities, so you need to try to choose low fat varieties ie semi-skimmed milk, low fat yogurt, reduced fat butter and single cream instead of double.
Protein foods - meat, fish, eggs and pulses (beans and lentils).
Again, we need some of these every day and they vary in the amount of fat they contain depending on how you cook them and the type of fish and meat.
Fats, sugar and salt - these are the only real "baddies" and even then, we need a small amount every day. Usually though, we get more than enough from other foods.
If you have a look at the "Eatwell Plate" above, you will see the sort of proportions of each food type we need to aim at to stay healthy.To summarise:
Eat as much fruit and vegetables as you can.
Eat lots of starchy energy food (potatoes, rice, pasta, bread and cereals)but be careful about the sauces you eat with them.
Eat some protein every day (meat, fish, eggs and beans).
Have some milk or yogurt every day, but try to make it low fat.
Be careful about "hidden" baddies especially in canned and bottled drinks (sugar), take away food (fat and salt), snacks such as crisps and chocolate (fat, sugar, salt),microwave meals (fat and salt), salad dressings (fat, sugar, salt).
The hidden baddies are particularly sneaky. Did you know that a medium Mc Donald's chocolate milkshake contains 415 calories, nearly a 1/4 of the total recommended daily intake for an average woman? And a large Coke contains 11% of your total daily recommended calories? Have a look at Mc Donald's own web site and check before you eat!
http://www.mcdonalds.co.uk/food/nutrition/nutrition-counter.mcd
The real nasties to avoid are saturated fats. These are basically fats that solidify and are usually animal based rather than vegetable. Think about the white fat you see on meat and the fat that's left in a pan and solidifies after cooking burgers and sausages. You wouldn't want that stuff blocking up your arteries would you? You can see how hard it would be for your body to shift it, so it clogs up vital organs and arteries. Nasty!
The good news is that not all fats are bad and we actually need "good" fats to be healthy. Good fats are ones which don't solidify at room temperature - olive or sunflower oil, for example, or oil found in fish like sardines and salmon. So it's better to cook with oil than butter, and naturally "oily" fish are positively good for you.
Deep fried and battered, however, are not!
If you are not already bored to death by this, or totally discouraged, you can read more about nutrition here:
http://www.eatwell.gov.uk/
This - hopefully - is a simple way of explaining and remembering.
There are different food types.
Fruit and vegetables - really good for you as they don't make you fat and they are packed with vitamins and minerals.
Energy foods - these tend to be our "fillers" like bread, potatoes, rice, pasta and cereals. Some people think they make you fat, but it's usually what you put on them that is fattening ie butter, creamy sauces and cheese.
Milk and dairy foods (butter, cheese, cream, yogurt). These foods contain calcium, proteins and vitamins which we all need. They also contain fat in varying quantities, so you need to try to choose low fat varieties ie semi-skimmed milk, low fat yogurt, reduced fat butter and single cream instead of double.
Protein foods - meat, fish, eggs and pulses (beans and lentils).
Again, we need some of these every day and they vary in the amount of fat they contain depending on how you cook them and the type of fish and meat.
Fats, sugar and salt - these are the only real "baddies" and even then, we need a small amount every day. Usually though, we get more than enough from other foods.
If you have a look at the "Eatwell Plate" above, you will see the sort of proportions of each food type we need to aim at to stay healthy.To summarise:
Eat as much fruit and vegetables as you can.
Eat lots of starchy energy food (potatoes, rice, pasta, bread and cereals)but be careful about the sauces you eat with them.
Eat some protein every day (meat, fish, eggs and beans).
Have some milk or yogurt every day, but try to make it low fat.
Be careful about "hidden" baddies especially in canned and bottled drinks (sugar), take away food (fat and salt), snacks such as crisps and chocolate (fat, sugar, salt),microwave meals (fat and salt), salad dressings (fat, sugar, salt).
The hidden baddies are particularly sneaky. Did you know that a medium Mc Donald's chocolate milkshake contains 415 calories, nearly a 1/4 of the total recommended daily intake for an average woman? And a large Coke contains 11% of your total daily recommended calories? Have a look at Mc Donald's own web site and check before you eat!
http://www.mcdonalds.co.uk/food/nutrition/nutrition-counter.mcd
The real nasties to avoid are saturated fats. These are basically fats that solidify and are usually animal based rather than vegetable. Think about the white fat you see on meat and the fat that's left in a pan and solidifies after cooking burgers and sausages. You wouldn't want that stuff blocking up your arteries would you? You can see how hard it would be for your body to shift it, so it clogs up vital organs and arteries. Nasty!
The good news is that not all fats are bad and we actually need "good" fats to be healthy. Good fats are ones which don't solidify at room temperature - olive or sunflower oil, for example, or oil found in fish like sardines and salmon. So it's better to cook with oil than butter, and naturally "oily" fish are positively good for you.
Deep fried and battered, however, are not!
If you are not already bored to death by this, or totally discouraged, you can read more about nutrition here:
http://www.eatwell.gov.uk/