SubscribeNutrition Tips 101 – Help in Improving Your Overall Health
December 6, 2009 0 CommentsGood 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.
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