Good nutrition is an essential component
of any good health strategy. Good nutrition coupled with regular
exercise is the foundation for a healthy body and provides you
with the necessary body fuel for your body to be able to maximise
your daily activities. Planning or preparing for a good nutrition
diet isn’t rocket science, it’s about the increasing in your
consumption of foods that have higher volumes of vitamins and
minerals. Some of the types of food that have high quantities of
these are fruits, vegetables, whole grains and low or non-fat
dairy.
Good nutrition is a
mindset for the household food provider, if you are starting to
read the nutrition advice labels on food produce and selecting
different products to feed the family based on the vitamins fat
content, sugars and minerals then you have taken the first steps
on your family’s path to Good nutrition.
I regularly receive
questions regarding good nutrition and I have found that in
various forms the questions that are asked are very similar.
Different circumstances require different advice to be given for
each individual and it is imperative that you consult your
registered health or diet consultant before making drastic
changes to your overall
Should I change what
my family eats?
In short if you are
eating takeaway foods regularily (ie: daily or every other day)
and the food that you are purchasing is high in sugars and fats,
then the answer is definitely yes. However a good test is to ask
your family individually if they feel tired during the day. This
is a good sign that they aren’t getting the necessary nutrients
to fuel their body.
If any of the below
questions is relevant to your family then you may need to seek a
professional dietician to help you with improving your family
meals with higher nutrition levels:
-
Has anyone in your
family had any hereditary conditions such as High blood
pressure or abnormal cholesterol levels?
-
Has anyone in your
family been told by a health profession worker that a condition
they have could be improved by having a better nutrition
plan?
-
Does anyone in the
family have diabetes, cancer, osteoporosis or heart
diease?
-
Is anyone in the
family overweight?
A registered dietician
or a health care worker can aid you with these and many more
related nutrition based questions to help you to start making for
your family informed nutritious meals. If you have never
discussed nutrition and would like to ask more questions
regarding good nutrition then click here
to find one in your local area.
My family find it
hard to change their eating habits?
The challenge is for you
to make the changes progressively in the preparation of the
meals, even very small changes will start to improve your
families health considerably. The answer for you is to keep
choosing healthy nutritional foods and keep asking questions with
your dietitian, so they can track how your family is doing. Here
are a few suggestions that can improve your eating
habits:
-
Analyse your current
diet and determine the foods that are high in salt, sugars and
fat content. Change these meals with vegetables and/or fruits,
change your bread from white to wholegrain and increase the
amount of foods that are fiber rich.
-
If you drink full
cream milk start to buy low fat or even soy milk as a change.
It will take a few days to get used to the taste but after 2
months, if you drink a full cream milk you will taste the fat
content.
-
Keep up you fluids by
drinking low sugar based drinks A glass of water or a natural
fruit juice is good. The drink of fluids with a meal will help
fill you up.
-
Each day write down
the food that is and isn’t eaten. This will help you keep
track of what
food groups have and haven’t been consumed during
the week. So you can increase the levels of a particular food
group (fruits, vegetables or dairy) or decrease processed
and/or high fat foods.
Making these small
changes in your family’s nutrition plan will provide them with
the nutrients required to grow and to maintain adequate fitness
levels to meet life’s challenges head on. But just remember
that there are no “magic bullets” when it comes to nutrition.
Good nutrition will not come from a pill however there are some
vitamins that can help with some deficiencies however these
vitamins pills work best in conjunction with a nutrition plan.
Good nutrition is easy to achieve if you plan your meals and
start to read the nutrition labels to make the right food choices
for your family.
