The dietary guidelines are: Eat more fibre, eat less salt, sugar and fat. These guidelines were introduced because people were dying prematurely of heart attacks and other similar illnesses.
Fibre is made up of a number of different complex substances which are all types of carbohydrate. They are only found in plants and come mainly from the plant cell walls. However, foods which are rich in fibre, such as whole meal bread, pasta, pulses and potatoes, provide more than just fibre in our diet. They also contain vitamins and minerals, are low in fat, and are good sources of starchy carbohydrate. Together with fruit and vegetables , we should be aiming to eat more of these foods.
Fibre is an important part of our diet, because it stimulates the digestive system, helps prevent constipation, makes us feel full, helps reduce the risk of digestive disorders and contributes few calories . Wholemeal bread, beans in tomato sauce, bran, musily, wholemeal pasta, porridge oats and frozen peas are all foods which contain fibre
Saturated and poly unsaturated are 2 types of fat. Saturated fat is worse because when we eat a lot of saturated fat, our bodies are stimulated to produce extra choleterol in the blood. A high blood cholestorol elvel encourages the development of fatty deposits on the walls of the arteries. Some examples of fatty foods are cheese, milk, sweets and butter.
Five ways of reducing fat intakes are: eat less fatty foods, grill steam or bake food, use an oil low in saturates choose fish, poultry remove skin and lean cuts of meat, drain fat from mince, after browning.
We should reduce our intake of sugar and salt because they can cause tooth decay, weight problems, high cholestorol and can clog up the arteies. we can cut down on sugar by gradually reducing the amount of sugar in tea and coffee, try low sugar varieties of soft drinks or mineral water, eat rice pasta and fresh or frozen vegetables, avoid eating crisps, and put less salt on food.
