| A 21-point food programme, to ensure you laugh all the way to good health |
- One handful of nuts a day is all it takes to slash your risk of heart disease and potentially add three years to your life. Say American researchers. Nuts are packed with heart-healthy fats, plus loads of selenium - vital for all – round good health ,say nutritionists.
- Two servings of fish should be eaten each week, including one of oily fish like sardines, mackerel, herring or fresh tuna. Oily fish are rich in omega-3 fatty acids, which are known to lower cholesterol and reduce the risk heart disease.
- You should leave three hours between meals to maintain optimum energy. Aim for three main meals, making breakfast the biggest, plus two or three snacks throughout the day.
- Drinking four cups of coffee a day is fine. Forget a about giving up coffee for good health – a moderate intake is linked to a lower risk of diabetes, colon cancer and liver disease.
- Five portions of fruit and vegetables is the minimum you need each day for good health. Fruit and vegetables are packed with substances called antioxidants, which reduce the risk of serious illnesses such as cancer and heart disease. Antioxidants also help fight common infections. Try for three servings of vegetables and two of fruit, as vegetables have more fibre and less sugar.
- An adult should consume no more than six gm of salt each day. Avoid cooking with salt or adding it to food at the table. You should always read food labels as salt is often hidden in bread, breakfast cereal and processed foods.
- There are seven differently coloured fruit and vegetable families. Each family contains different antioxidants, which is why It’s important to include a variety of colours. Aim for at least one portion each of red, purple, dark green, light green, yellow, orange and white fruit and vegetables every two days.
- You should aim to drink eight glasses of fluid every day. But they don’t all need to be water towards the total, too.
- The average woman should eat nine portions of carbohydrates each day (men need11). A portion is one slice of bread, an egg sized potato or 28 gm of starchy carbohydrates like pasta or rice.
- Non-diet soft drinks contain 10% sugar. That’s an average of 150 calories per can! Full-sugar soft drinks are thought to be of significant contributor to obesity. Swap to diet versions or wean yourself off them by adding sparkling water to juice, then diluting it more and more until you’ve adapted to drinking straight water.
- Never allow yourself to get past 11 on the hunger scale (which goes from one to 20) before eating. If you get too hungry, you’ll end up bingeing on fatty ,sugary foods for energy.
- An average woman has a daily intake of 12 mg of iron, but we actually need 14.8 gm.Include a range of iron-rich foods like lean red meat, baked beans, sardines, dried figs and cereal as part of your daily diet.
- An inactive person can eat 13 calories for every 1Ib that they weigh!
- Women can safely consume up to 14 units of alcohol per week while men can have up to 21. A unit is hlf a pint of standard-strength larger, a pub measure of spirits of half a standard (175 ml) glass of wine. Women should avoid more than three units a day and men, four.
- You should chew each mouthful of food 15 times before swallowing to aid digestion. But most of us actually manage half that account.
- An average person’s diet is made up of 16 percent protein. It’s higher than we need. Women need 45 gm of protein a day and men 55 gm.
- Food experts say we should eat 17 different foods every three days to ensure we get all the necessary nutrients. Increasing variety can be as simple as trying a new sand which filling for lunch.
- You need a minimum of 18 gm of fibre each day. Fruit, vegetable and wholegrain carbs are best sources. But beware of brain –it can over load your system and lead to bloating.
- Nutritionists recommend an intake of 19 different minerals and vitamins. But if you can stretch it to 35, nothing like it!
- You should eat no more than 20 gm of saturated fat each day. Fat should make up no more than 35 percent of your daily calories.
- You should try and eat 21 dairy product portions each week ,roughly three portions every day.
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