The Health, Nutrition and Wellness site
8 Mar
How many times are we told to read the labels on the food we buy? That’s all well and good but one can spend hours reading and it won’t really help unless you know what to look out for so here is a basic summary of what should make you sit up and take notice. Please note that most of the information for this post was taken from a leaflet for the World Cancer Research Fund, please visit their website for further information: www.wcrf-uk.org
Engergy:
Energy is measured in kilojoules (kJ) and kilocalories (kcal), although many people also speak of just plain Calories (Cals). Generally it is accepted that to maintain a healthy weight, women should consume no more than 2000 Calories a day and men 2500 Calories. One Calorie is equivalent to 4,186 kilojoules so to work out your kilojoule allowance you would multiply the number of Calories by 4,186, you can also use the converter at: http://www.jsward.com/cooking/appendices.shtml.
Naturally, these are only guidelines and people who do sport and/or lead a very active lifestyle would need more Calories, children would need less.
Try to balance the Calories you take in with the Calories you use up through exercise and conscious food choices.
Protein:
On food labels, protein is expressed in grams (g). We need protein for growth and repair, it also plays a role in metabolism. When choosing protein to include in your diet, try to opt for fish, poultry, game or vegetarian sources such as tofu as red meat can be high in saturated fat.
On the Eat-Salad Lifestyle, we recommend having at least one protein based meal a day, preferably from fish, poultry, game or vegetarian sources. Include nuts in your diet as these are also a good protein source.
Carbohydrate:
Just like protein, carbohydrate is expressed in grams (g). Remember though that often the amount of carbohydrate indicated on a food label includes both complex and simple carbohydrates(sugars). Ideally we should try to base our carbohydrate meals around complex carbohydrates such as brown rice, wholemeal breads and wholemeal pastas.
Some food labels make a distinction between sugars and complex carbohydrate content, making it easier to see how much sugar you are consuming in your daily meals.
On the Eat-Salad Lifestyle, we recommend that you include only complex carbohydrates in your meals when possible, these give a slow release of energy, helping you to stay active and alert for longer during your day.
Fat:
Fat contains twice as many calories as carbohydrates and protein. By now we are all aware that there are good fats and bad fats. Fats such as saturated and Trans fats are the bad guys and too much of these fats in our daily diet can lead to an increased risk of obesity, heart disease and some cancers. Unsaturated fats are the good guys and are the best to include in a healthy diet, as some fat is necessary for optimal health.
Some sources:
Saturated fats: meat, dairy products, processed foods.
Trans fats or hydrogenated fats: margarines, some ready meals, some processed foods such as biscuits or cakes.
Unsaturated fats:
Monounsaturates: olive oil, nuts, avocadoes.
Polyunsaturates: oily fish, nuts and seeds, sunflower and soya oils (take note that all oils should be kept away from light and oxygen, otherwise their nutritional value deteriorates, thus oils sold in clear bottles are not a valuable addition to a healthy diet).
On the Eat-Salad Lifestyle we recommend that you take an Omega 3,6,9 supplement, eat oily fish at least twice a week, add nuts and seeds to your daily diet and use cold pressed, extra virgin olive oil for all cooking and salad dressings. Flax seed oil can also be a healthy addition to salad dressings but should not be used for cooking.
Generally it is recommended that women should aim for no more than 70 grams of total fat a day (of which 20 grams can be saturates) and men for no more than 95 grams a day (of which 30 grams can be saturates). Again these are only guidelines and individual needs will vary.
Fibre:
There are two types of fibre, soluble and unsoluble fibre, both which are good for us. Soluble fibre can assist in controlling blood glucose (sugar) levels and can also have a beneficial effect on blood cholesterol levels. Soluble fibre can be found in pulses, fruit and vegetables and oats.
Insoluble fibre is the kind that helps to keep our bowels regular and is mainly found in wholegrain breads, bran products and cereals.
Foods that contain more than 6 grams of fibre per 100 grams are thought to have good levels of fibre.
Sodium:
Sodium is part of salt and is listed in grams or milligrams (mg) on food labels. If a label does not list the sodium and salt content seperately you can work it out yourself by multiplying the sodium content by 2,5.
For example: o,4 g of sodium x 2,5 = 1 gram of salt.
Some salt is necessary in a healthy, balanced diet but most of have a daily intake that is much too high. Try to eat less than 6 grams (about one level teaspoon) of salt a day (2,4 g of sodium). Watch out for ‘hidden’ salt in processed and canned foods and try not to add salt to your food at the table.
On the Eat-Salad Lifestyle we recommend that you experiment with using herbs, spices and vegetable based flavourings to enhance the taste of your food. Coarse sea salt, Maldon salt or Himalayan rock salt are good sources of minerals and are a tasty alternative to table salt as we know it.
Ingredients:
It is useful to know that ingredients on a food label are listed in descending weight. Thus the first ingredient is the main ingredient in the product. Take a look at the label to make sure that products contain good levels of what they claim to contain.
Use by date:
Foods are unsafe to eat after this date.
Best before date:
Foods can still be safe to eat after this date but may not be at their best anymore.
Food labels often also contain storage and cooking or defrosting instructions, try to follow these guidelines to ensure optimal taste once your food is prepared.
The United Kingdom Food Standards Agency gives the following guidelines for food labels:
Total Fat: A lot per 100 g of food= 20 g or more
A little per 100 g of food = 3 g or less
Saturates: A lot per 100 g of food = 5 g or more
A little per 100 g of food = 1 g or less
Sodium: A lot per 100 g of food = 0,5 g or more
A little per 100 g of food = 0,1 g or less
Sugars: A lot per 100 g of food = 10 g or more
A little per 100 g of food = 2 g or less
Remember that ultimately we are responsible for what we put into our bodies, equipping ourselves with the knowledge to make healthy choices is a responsibility which we should take seriously, our bodies will thank us!
16 Apr
Cholesterol, that’s the bad stuff right? Not all true actually, our bodies need some cholesterol to function normally and some is produced by the body itself. Let’s take a look at how cholesterol functions in the body:
Cholesterol, a steroid lipid(fancy word for a fat) made up of carbon and hydrogen and a precursor of many steroids synthesized in the body (eg. Progesterone, bile acids) is transported in blood via something called the cholesterol transport system. This is done on little ‘vehicles’ called lipoproteins, fatty substances carried in an envelope of proteins and lecithin-like substances, of which there are various forms. These are: Chylomicrons, Very-Low-Density-Lipoprotein [VLDL], Low-Density-Lipoprotein [LDL] and High-Density-Lipoprotein [HDL].
Cholesterol taken in by dietary means (all those weekend fry-ups) and cholesterol in bile is carried from the intestines to the liver by the chylomicrons. These are lipoproteins which contain mainly triglycerides which are molecules of fat or oil. Lipoproteins are particles which are constructed so they have charged hydrophilic( water-loving) protein groups aimed at the outside (to make them able to travel in the water-rich environment of the body), with their hydrophobic (water-fearing) cholesterol and triglycerides on the inside ( away from the watery environment). When the triglyceride is removed from the chylomicron, one is left with a chylomicron remnant. This chylomicron remnant can then be metabolized by the liver or be used to make LDL. Cholesterol is then secreted by the liver in VLDL (Cholesterol is one of its main components). The VLDL is transported via the blood to the tissues, where it is converted to LDL in the adipose (fatty) tissue. The Low-Density-Lipoprotein (LDL) then carries the cholesterol to the receptor sites on the cells of many different body tissues and releases the cholesterol when it is taken up by the cell receptors. High-Density-Lipoprotein (also manufactured by the liver) then ‘picks up’ the released cholesterol and transports it back to the liver. In the liver the returned cholesterol is converted into bile. Bile acids is the last step in the body’s breakdown of cholesterol as the body is not able to break down cholesterols’ steroid nucleus.
Reducing overall cholesterol levels is simply a matter of increasing the levels of HDL (which removes cholesterol from the tissues and takes it to the liver to be excreted or recycled) and decreasing the levels of LDL (which takes cholesterol to receptor sites on cells). There are various ways of doing this:
Take a look at your diet. Increasing the intake of dietary fibre can decrease cholesterol levels as the fibre binds to the bile acids and so keeps the cholesterol in them from being reabsorbed by the body. Fibre can be found in legumes(chickpeas, butter beans), fruits such as apples and also in vegetables.
Monounsaturates , a type of fatty acid, found in olive oil (omega 6 fatty acids), avocado oil and peanut oil can help to raise HDL levels and lower LDL levels while the polyunsaturated fatty acids found in evening primrose oil can lower LDL levels but will lower HDL levels as well.
Omega-3 fatty acids, especially eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), both found in fish oils also contribute to higher levels of HDL and lower levels of LDL.
Lifestyle habits such as smoking lead to low levels of HDL so giving up smoking would significantly help to raise levels of HDL. Another risk factor for low levels of HDL is obesity, thus following a regular exercise program and having a healthy diet would assist in raising these levels.
Another way to keep LDL levels healthy is to ensure you are getting enough Vitamin C and chromium in your diet as a deficiency in either of these can contribute to raised levels of LDL. Avoiding excess intake of copper, iron and sodium (watch your salt intake) can also help as too much of any of these can contribute to raised LDL levels. Moderate alcohol consumption (no more than two drinks(units) a day) can also help to raise HDL levels.
Eating too much animal protein can raise LDL levels whilst eating vegetable protein like pulses can help lower LDL levels, thus a higher proportion of vegetable protein as opposed to animal protein is recommended in the diet. Try replacing one meat meal a week with a good vegetable protein like soy in the form of tofu or soya sausages or even a glass or two of soya milk.
Keeping HDL levels high and LDL levels low is very much a case of living sensibly: doing enough exercise, not eating too much animal protein, whilst eating plenty of vegetable protein, fruits and vegetables (for the fibre, vitamins and minerals) and ensuring you get a good intake of EFAs (essential fatty acids) from fish and vegetable oils.
Cholesterol is a necessary substance in our body and as with all things, a little forethought can go a far way in keeping it at levels optimum for good health.
Sources: Fats that Heal, Fats that Kill – Udo Erasmus