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DIET AND NUTRITION
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What is a balanced diet?
A balanced diet includes a variety of foods from all 5 food groups. It should provide
enough calories to ensure a desirable weight and should include all the necessary
daily nutrients.
The 5 Basic Food Groups
Grains: Breakfast cereals, muesli, rice, pasta, bread, oats, noodles, and all other
foods made from flour and grains. Best are less refined types. 6-11 servings. Good sources of starchy carbohydrates, fiber, plus calcium, iron and B vitamins. Very filling and low in fat.
Vegetables: Includes fresh, frozen or canned, & blended vegetable juice drinks.
Best: spinach, cabbage, bean sprouts, peas, carrots, broccoli, peppers, leeks potatoes onions, garlic, tomatoes. 4 servings. Good sources of antioxidant vitamins A & C, folates, fiber and some carbohydrates. Very low in fat and calories.
Fruits: Includes fresh, frozen or canned plus blended 100% fruit drinks.
Best: strawberries, grapes, kiwis, pineapple blackcurrants oranges, lemons, grapefruit,
peaches, apricots. 3-4 servings. Good sources of antioxidant vitamins A & C, folates, fiber and some carbohydrates. Very low in fat and calories.
Meat & dairy; Fish, all meat, poultry, eggs, milk, cheese, yogurt, nuts.
Best: any fish (esp. oily fish), turkey, free range chicken, lean beef, free range eggs, low fat dairy products, fat free milk and lower fat cheese. 2-3 servings
You should try to eat at least two portions of fish per week. Lean red meat contains
a wide variety of essential nutrients.
Doctors advise us to eat less red meat and more oily fish.
Sugars & fats: All sugars, oils, butter, margarine, cream.
Best: choose unrefined oils which are low in saturated fat, unrefined sugar and low fat
spread low fat soft margarine. Tiny amounts only. Good source of
essential fatty acids and fat soluble vitamins A, D, E & K.
The best combination of foods for a balanced diet
The healthiest combination for a balanced diet is low fat + high carbohydrate.
For example, as a general rule:
60 to 65 percent of your calories should come from complex carbohydrates
10 to 15 percent should come from proteins.
Less than 30 percent should come from all fat. (Of this, a max. of one third
may be saturated fat).
Unfortunately, at present, the Internet does not seem to offer a wide choice of low
fat diets. High protein diets are much more fashionable.
What constitutes a serving
Grains 1 slice bread - half a muffin - half bowl cereal - 4oz/100g cooked rice/pasta. Vegetables 4oz/100g cooked/raw vegetables - 8oz/200g leafy green vegetables - glass vegetable juice.
Fruits 1 medium fresh fruit - 4oz canned fruit - 6 dried apricots - glass fruit juice.
Meat & dairy 2-3oz/50-75g cooked lean meat/fish/poultry - 2 eggs - 7oz/175g tofu
- half cup nuts/seeds.
1 cup milk/yogurt - 1oz cheddar cheese - 4oz cottage cheese - 4oz ice-cream/frozen yogurt.
Sugars & fats Ideally use fat free sprays for cooking. Use only light covering of
spread on bread.
Do you need supplements on a balanced diet?
No. If you lead a relatively normal life and follow a balanced diet, you won't need
supplements. However, if you are unable to eat properly, or if you are ill, under
stress or in need of extra nutrients, it may be prudent to supplement your diet with
a multi-vitamin & mineral tablet. However, this should be a short term measure
only. Supplements should not be used as a substitute for a healthy, balanced diet.
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Metabolism - what is it?
In very simple terms, your metabolism is the rate at which your individual body burns up energy. Metabolism varies from person to person. You may have a faster metabolism than normal, for a person of your size, or a slower one.
Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR)
In order to compare one person's metabolism with another's, scientists have devised a new buzz word - basal metabolic rate (BMR). Your BMR is the rate at which you use up energy when at rest - e.g. when you are sleeping or just lying in bed. You might call it your tick over speed.
The more you weigh the higher your BMR will be. The metabolic rate of very fat women is 25% higher than that of thin women.
BMR is much greater in childhood than in adulthood. After the age of about 20, it drops about 2 per cent, per decade.
People whose bodies contain a higher proportion of muscle to fat, tend to have a higher BMR than those with lower muscular proportions - all other things being equal.
What is the 'average' person's BMR?
As a very rough guide, the average person's BMR is about half a calorie per pound of body weight, per hour. So, if you weigh 140 pounds you will use up approximately 70 calories an hour or 1680 calories per day doing nothing.
The 5 things you need to know about BMR
(1) The higher your BMR, the easier it is to lose weight
All other things being equal, the more energy your body needs in order to tick over, the more food you can eat without gaining weight - or conversely, the less reduction in food you need to make in order to lose weight. Thus a high BMR tends to make dieting and weight loss easier.
(2) Your BMR decreases when you go on a diet which has fewer calories than your normal diet
In response to fewer calories, the body lowers its BMR because it thinks there is a famine. It therefore 'slows down' in order to conserve energy. Hence the 'plateau' effect during dieting.
(3) Your BMR increases in response to increased physical activity
Not only do we use up calories doing exercise but the increased BMR continues even after we have done our exercise, often for several hours. The amount of increase varies from person to person but even a modest increase should counteract the body's tendency to decrease BMR when we cut calories.
Note: The exact reason why physical exercise leads to an increased BMR is not known. The present consensus is that exercise preserves more of our lean body tissue. Remember, the higher our proportion of lean body tissue the higher our metabolic rate will be.
(4) Exercise is the ONLY effective way to increase your BMR
Many diets claim to increase metabolic rate through special fat-burning exercises or fat-burning foods. The truth is, your metabolic rate falls if you start dieting and start to shed excess pounds. You may be able to reduce the extent of the fall by increased exercise but there is no evidence whatsoever that your metabolic rate will be higher than it was before you dieted.
(5) Obesity is not caused by a slow BMR
Except in the rare cases of serious metabolic illness it is not possible to blame your metabolism for obesity. Your metabolism certainly has an effect on how much you weigh but the main reasons lie elsewhere.
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