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Diet Review and Revamp
By Kylie Andrew (Dietitian)
If you’ve been involved in a diet and exercise campaign for over 12 weeks then it’s now a good time to review your diet. You have probably already made lots of dietary changes since starting the Fit & Healthy You program. But will it be enough to achieve the goals you set at the beginning? Have you shed those unwanted kilos, reduced your cholesterol or turned down the heat on your boiling blood pressure? Are you in need of an energy boost to get you through or wanting to ward off that nasty cold that’s going around?
Whatever your goal, it’s time to take a moment and review your current eating plan. Is there still some fine tuning to do, some beneficial foods you could add or a few sacrifices you could make for the next few weeks’
Watching Weight?…
If weight loss was your original goal, you’ve still got time. If you’ve hit a plateau, despite maintaining your reduced fat intake and eating better, it might be time to look at the overall energy balance equation. By reducing the energy coming in as kilojoules from food or increasing the outgoings via exercise, you could still drop another few kilos before the end of the program.
To do this, you will need to focus on the amount of food that you are eating. Could you eat less? Although the sauce on your pasta is now a low fat non oily type, are you just eating too much of it? Is your bowl of breakfast cereal overflowing? Are you snacking all day? Although it might be healthy, like nuts, dried fruit, smoothies etc it may also be providing excess kilojoules that are not being used.
Here are some tips to help you cut kilojoules:
- Replace concentrated sources of kilojoules. For example fresh fruit rather than dried fruit or fruit juices
- Dish up slightly less food at each meal
- Use smaller bowls and plates
- After eating wait at least 15 minutes before going back for more
- Ask yourself are you really hungry
- Fill up on more vegetables and salad and eat less of the other components of the meal
- Drink a large glass of water before eating
Take heart…
There is still time to improve your blood fats. The typical reaction when many people discover that their cholesterol level is high is to eliminate certain foods from their diet. You have probably done this, cutting out the fat especially the saturated kind. So butter is gone, cheese out, meat is lean and chicken skinless, milk and yoghurt are fat free and ice cream is off the menu, cakes and biscuits are things of the past and fried fast foods forgotten.
Is it enough? Unfortunately, probably not! Controlling cholesterol levels is not just about what not to eat, but what to eat. Remember? So now is the time to focus on adding some beneficial ingredients to your diet. Think about:
- Omega 3’s from fish 3 times per week, preferable tuna, salmon, sardines or mackerel
- Beta glucan fibre from oats. This can be a warm bowl of porridge, muesli, or even oat bran bread or muffins.
- Legumes like chick peas, kidney beans, lentils – add them to soups, casseroles and curries
- Soy foods such as tofu, soy based breads and cereals and reduced fat soy milks.
Blood pressure still simmering…
By now you have hopefully managed to turn down the heat a little on the pressure cooker and reduce your blood pressure. But if it is still simmering a little on the high side you may need to take the next step. Continue to work at watching your weight and eating a balanced diet. The words “pass the salt” should be forgotten and instead you should pass on the salt. However, to really reach your goal of blood pressure control, you may need to do more than just shake the habit of the salt shaker. Here’s how:
- Eat more fresh foods, like fresh fruits and vegetables, lean meats, poultry, fish and seafood
- Use herbs and spices in cooking in preference to salt and salty condiments
- Avoid salty additions to cooking like soy sauce, stock cubes and commercial sauces
- Choose processed foods that contain less than 120mg of sodium per 100g
- Look for products that are labelled as low in salt
- Make your own bread, it will contain far less salt that commercial breads
- Really compare between products to get the lowest salt option
In need of energy…
You’ve been going hard for 9 weeks and should be feeling fit and fabulous. But if you are feeling a little low in energy, it’s a good time to review. Use the following check list to review and revamp your diet for an energy boost:
- Start the day with a good breaky and eat regularly throughout the day
- Up the iron by including lean red meat 3 times per week
- Feast not famine – remember the body needs fuel
- Get Into GI – if you think you are eating enough carbs, it might be wise to check the glycaemix index of them to make sure that they are providing slow release lasting energy. Choose more unprocessed wholegrain types of foods with a lower GI.
- Cut the caffeine – if you are relying on coffee for a boost, wean yourself off and replace with water
Ward off winter colds and flus…
So your general health is good, that’s great! But don’t become slack. Your focus should be to continue to eat well for general health. You want to hopefully get through the next few months without getting the dreaded annual cold or flu. It’s still a good time for a quick diet review:
- Make sure that you are eating 7 serves of fresh fruits and vegetables daily
- Aim to eat at least one fruit or vegetable rich in vitamin C daily, such as orange, mandarin or other citrus fruit, kiwi fruit, tomato or capsicum
- Keep up your intake of lean red meat rich in iron and zinc beneficial ingredients for immunity
- Enjoy some fish for omega benefits