Dairy products are an excellent source of calcium and are important for healthy bones and teeth. They can also help prevent high blood pressure, diabetes, osteoporosis and heart disease. Choose low-fat or fat-free products and reduced-fat cheeses instead of full cream dairy.
Eating lots of different types of food will give your body all the nutrients it needs. Always strive to make your plate colourful with a variety of foods.
Eating too much salt can raise your blood pressure and increase your risk of stroke, heart attack and cancer. Some salt in our diets comes from salt added at the table or during cooking, but more than half the salt we eat comes from processed foods. Substituting salt with spices, herbs and lemon juice will help you cut down on the amount of salt you eat. If you gradually add less salt to your food, you will soon not notice the difference.
Too much sugar can make you gain weight, increasing your risk of chronic disease. Sugar in your diet can come from sugar added to hot drinks, cereals and cooking, but very high amounts of sugar are also found in cakes, biscuits, doughnuts, sweets, chocolates and sweetened cold drinks and fruit juices. Many processed foods have hidden sugar in them, labelled as sucrose, fructose or glucose. If you are diabetic, it is even more important that you limit these types of foods.
Adding lots of vegetables to soups and stews can help you reach the target of 5 portions. Remember to eat fruit and vegetables from the different colour groups and to include some raw fruit and vegetables in your daily diet. The vitamins, minerals and fibre in these foods protect against many diseases.
Eating too many fats and fried foods can make you gain weight and cause heart disease. Decrease the amount of fatty red meat, butter, hard margarine, cream, lard and ghee that you eat. The high amounts of saturated fats in these foods can increase your cholesterol and block you blood vessels, which can lead to a heart attack or stroke.
Sources of healthy/good (unsaturated) fats include sunflower or canola oil and soft tub margarines in small amounts, and nuts, seeds, peanut butter and avocados.
An easy way to cut down on saturated fat is to always remove the visible fat from meat and the skin from chicken. Drink plenty of clean, safe water every day.
These foods are good, affordable sources of protein, are low in fat and high in fibre. Replacing meat in some meals with these foods will benefit your health.
Drinking alcohol has been linked to various cancers, including cancer of the throat, breast, colon, liver and prostate. It is recommended that women should not have more than one drink a day and men not more than two drinks a day. One drink is equal to a can of beer (340 ml) or a small glass of wine (120 ml) or a tot of spirits (25 ml). If you are diabetic or have hypertension, it is best to avoid drinking alcohol altogether, as it can raise your blood sugar and blood pressure. Pregnant and breastfeeding women should also not drink any alcohol at all, as it can cause serious damage to the baby’s growing brain.
It is best to limit eating red meat to only a few times a week. When choosing chicken or red meat, choose lean options. Try to eat at least one vegetarian main meal and two fish meals a week. Good options are fresh or tinned pilchards, snoek, sardines or tuna. Eggs are also a good, and more affordable alternative source of protein to meat.
Eating high-fibre food helps you feel fuller for longer, lowers your cholesterol and keeps your digestive system healthy. High-fibre foods lower your risk of developing obesity, heart disease and cancer. Good examples are brown or wholewheat bread, coarse maize meal, oats.
Avoid deep frying your food. Grilling, steaming, microwaving, slow-cooking and baking are much healthier cooking methods. If you do fry your food, stir-fry or pan-fry using only a little oil.
