The importance of healthy diet
Daily Calorie Requirements
How many calories should one consume when one wants to lose weight ?
Daily Calories Intake for Gradual Weight Loss.
Tips for reducing your fat intake.
Remember: If you want to lose weight...
Tips for reducing your sugar intake.
Sample Menu
The importance of healthy diet:
A healthy diet is one
that contains a wide variety of foods and includes proteins,
carbohydrates and fats as well as vitamins and minerals.
Protein is essential for
growth, repair and maintenance of cells and is found in foods
such
as meat, fish, eggs, milk, dairy products, beans and nuts.
Carbohydrates is valuable
energy source. There are two forms: Complex carbohydrates
found in foods such as cereals, potatoes, rice, bread and
simple carbohydrates basically
sugar, found in foods such as chocolate; biscuits, ice-creams
and softdrinks as well as in
fruits.
Complex carbohydrates are
better for us because they provide energy as well as plenty of
fibre, which is essential for a healthy cholesterol levels in
the blood.
Important vitamins,
minerals and fibre found in complex carbohydrate foods are
rarely found
in simple carbohydrates which are sometime described as
providing "Empty Calories."
Fats are needed to help
insulate and protect the body and are concentrated source of
energy. There are two main types of fat: Saturated fats -
found in meat, dairy products,
cooking fact, biscuits and pastures and unsaturated facts
found in foods such as oline oil,
sunflower oil and oily fish.
Al foods provide energy
including liquid foods such as milk, fruit juices and alcohol.
The only liquid food that
does not contain energy is water. Water contains no calories
at all.
Proteins, carbohydrates
and fats each provide different amounts of energy.
One gram of protein
provides our bodies with 4 calories, so does one gram of
carbohydrates. However one gram of fat provides 9 calories
more than double the amount of energy derived from proteins or
carbohydrates.
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Daily Calorie Requirements:
Men
Women
Sedentory work
2425
1875
Moderate work
2875
2225
Heavy work
3800
2925
How much fat do we need.
Not more than 20-30% of
our total energy intake is derived from fat.
This means that if you
have a diet of 2000 cal. A day, not more than 600 cal should
come from fat.
It is recommended that we
consume unsaturated fats rather than saturated fats. This is
because saturated fats are associated with increased levels of
cholesterol in the blood and higher risk of coronary heart
disease, whereas unsaturated fats can help to reduce the level
of cholesterol in the blood and may help prevent heart
disease.
The body only uses those
calories it needs in order to function correctly. Any surplus
calories in the form of excess fats 1 proteins and
carbohydrates are stored as fat in the body.
So if you will put on
weight; you eat less than your body needs, you loss weight.
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How many calories should one consume when one wants to lose
weight ?
Aim for a gradual rather
than sudden weight loss.
A weight loss of two
pounds (907 gms) is recommended per week. This is because
people who achieve slow,steady weight loss are more likely to
remain at lower weight than those who achieve sudden, drastic
weight loss.
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Daily Calories Intake for Gradual Weight Loss.
Weekly Wt.Loss
Calories per day
Men
1/b 454
gm
2300
Women
1/b 454
gm
1500
Men
2/b
907 gm
1700
Women
2/b
907 gm
1000
Eat sensibly. Needs of
your body do not change just because you are trying to lose
weight. You will need proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins,
minerals and some facts.
Eat lot of green leafy
vegetables. They provide you with essential vitamins and
minerals.
Drink plenty of water.
Avoid weighing yourself
all the time. Your weight fluctuates daily and there is not
real need to weight yourselfmore than once a week.
Plan you meals. Try to
eat small meals throughout the day rather than using up you
full calorie entitlement in one large meal. Eating small
amounts regularly will lessen the chances of your feeling
hungry and will help you to lose weight. If you eat a large
evening meal shortly before going to bed your body has no
chance to use up those calories during the daily activity.
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Tips for reducing your fat intake.
- Stop butter or margarine oil or ghee on
bread/roti.
- Use skimmed milk instead of whole milk.
- Choose meats that are lower in fat such
as chicken and turkey instead of high fat meat like pork and
beef.
- Trim any fat you can see on the meat.
- Because there is hidden fat in meant,
east less meat and more potatoes, veg, and pulses.
- Do not use mayonnaise and salad creams.
- Cut down on biscuits, pastures,
chocolates, waffers and cakes.
- Find alternative low fat snacks.
- Bake, grill or stream food. Avoid fried
foods.
- Replace high fat snacks with low fat
snacks.
High fat Snack
Fat per 100 gm
Almonds
55.8
Cheese
34.4
Chocolate biscuits
27.6
Waffers
37.6
Milk chocolate
30.6
Peanuts
46.1
Low Fat SnackFat
Content per 100 gm.
Apple
0.1
Banana
0.3
Carrots
0.5
Cottage cheese
3.9
Crisp bread
2.1
Oranges
0.1
Yogurt plain
3.0
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Remember if you want to lose weight only 15-20% of the
daily calorie intake should come from fat.
Avoid eating fast foods
that are high in fat.
Remove the skin from
chicken and fish before cooking. These skins contain a high
level of
fat.
It takes your brain 20
min to realise that your stomach is full. So if you eat
slowly, you will
become full after eating less food.
Eat more rice, potatoes,
chapati these carbohydrates are no fattening. It is what you
put on these foods that may be fattening e.g. baked potato is
not fattening, but if it is baked with butter then it is.
Ideally 58% of our diet should be in the form of
carbohydrates.
Avoid alcohol as it is
high on calories. One ounce has about 200 cal.
Eat to the extent where
you are satisfied but not stuffed ! Most of us over-eat
without even
realising it.
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Tips for reducing your sugar intake.
Avoid foods with high
sugar contents (check the labels)
Sugar has many different
forms and may be referred as cane sugar, raw sugar, honey,
muscovado or syrup.
One of the best way to
cut down on sugar is to stop adding it to tea and coffee.
If you cut your sugar
intake to half (e.g. 1 tsp from 2 tsp) this will be an
important contribution to your diet
Use less sugar when
cooking.
Substitute sugar coated
cereals with plain cereals.
Avoid biscuits, cakes,
honey, jam, marmalade, syrup, pastries.
Avoid all kinds of sweets
and chocolates.
Choose low calorie soft
drinks (diet pepsi/coke).
Avoid eating large
quantities of dried fruits. These snacks are high in sugar.
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SAMPLE MENU
BREAKFAST
Tea - 1 cup with 2 tbs milk.
Sugar 1 ts.
Skimmed milk 1 cup.
Toast 1 or Khakra 2
Sweet Lime.
LUNCH
Mixed vegetable or cucumber and celery soup 1 cup
Thin dal 3/4th cup or Kudhi.
Veg. Salad from radish, tomato, cucumber, lettuce with
dressing of vinegar,
Pepper and sour lime.
Cooked pumpkin or steamed ladys finger.Bread 1 slice or
chapatis 2.
Custard apple.
4.00 p.m.
Tea with milk 2 tbs, sugar 1 ts.
6.00 p.m.
Orange
DINNER
Tomato soup 1 cup.
Cooked carrots or spiced stuffed steam cauliflower
Thin dal ½ cup.
Skimmed milk, Curd ½ cup.
Bread 1 slice or 2 chapatis.
Baked apple.
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