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Healthy Eating for Adults
What you eat can help you stay healthy and feel great!
Healthy eating and an active lifestyle play an important role in maintaining your body’s health and preventing diseases such as heart disease, diabetes and some cancers. Plus, enjoying healthy food will help you cope with the pressures of everyday life and perform at your very best.
> The key to healthy eating
> Breakfast - the most important meal
> Healthy choices when eating away from home
> Getting enough fibre?
> Facts on fat
> What is the Glycaemic Index?
> Choose foods low in salt
> Eat plant foods for optimal health
> The importance of water
> Exercise matters
> References
What is the Glycaemic Index?
The Glycaemic Index (GI) is a system of classifying carbohydrate foods based on their effect on blood glucose (sugar) levels.Foods are given a rating between 0 and 100.
The use of the GI has been shown to be particularly useful in the diets of people with diabetes and people at high risk of developing diabetes. However research suggests that considering the GI of foods as part of a healthy eating plan, may be beneficial for all adults, in helping to maintain a healthy weight and preventing type 2 diabetes8,9.
Carbohydrate foods can be classified as having a low, moderate or high GI.
Low GI foods are those that have a slower, more constant affect on a person’s blood sugar levels. That means, they break down slowly and generally provide a longer ‘feeling of fullness’.
A diet based on low GI foods can be useful to prevent overeating and maintain more optimal blood sugar levels.
Classification of GI values
Low GI = 55 or less
Moderate GI = 56-69
High GI = 70 or more
The GI of a food should be considered along with the food’s other nutritional attributes such as fat, sugar and salt content. Some high fat foods have a low GI, such as chocolate, ice-cream and toasted muesli. Similarly, most sugary foods have a low to moderate GI. However, this does not mean these foods are the healthiest foods for everyday eating.
But what about an entire meal?
As most of us eat many different foods at the one meal, it is important to consider the GI in this context, rather than simply rating individual foods.
The GI of all foods eaten as part of a meal, will contribute to the overall GI. The overall GI of a meal can be lowered by the addition of a low GI food.
For example, adding low fat soy or dairy milk and canned fruit, both of which have a low GI, to a moderate GI breakfast cereal will create a low GI meal.
So what should you eat with regard to GI?
Try to include a low GI food at every meal, including snacks where possible. However, not all your foods need to be low GI as other foods that have moderate or high GI’s including some fruit, can contribute to a highly nutritious diet.
In choosing foods, whether low, moderate or high GI, make sure they are -
- low in fat, particularly saturated fat
- low in salt
- low in added sugars'
- high in fibre
- tasty!
Table 5 - Glycaemic Index (GI) of Common Foods:
|
|
Low GI |
Moderate GI |
High GI |
|
Fruit |
apple |
apricot |
watermelon |
|
Vegetables* |
Sweet potato (Kumara), yam |
Most potatoes (whole, mashed or instant potato) | |
|
Bread |
Mixed grain breads |
Wholemeal bread |
White breads |
|
Cereals |
Porridge |
Sanitarium Weet-Bix |
Many refined cereals such as cornflakes, puffed wheat, popped rice |
|
Rice/Pasta |
Spaghetti & most other pasta/noodles |
Basmati rice |
Calrose white rice |
|
Milk & alternatives |
Milk |
||
|
Other foods |
All legumes such as lentils, soybeans, split peas, baked beans, kidney beans |
Wheat biscuits |
Water crackers |
*Most vegetables are low in carbohydrate, therefore it is difficult to determine a GI for these foods.
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National guidelines recommend for us to choose foods low in salt.
High salt intake is associated with -
- high blood pressure
- increasing the risk of heart disease
- increasing the risk of a stroke.
Most of our salt intake actually comes from processed and take-away foods such as -
- pies
- chips
- savoury crackers
- commercial sauces and soups.
To reduce your salt-intake, it is beneficial to -
- Be aware of the salt you add to home prepared foods;
- Look for ‘reduced-salt’ or ‘low-salt’ foods when shopping. A low salt food contains less than 120mg of sodium per 100g;
- Try to limit salty snacks, take-away foods, processed meats, cheese and butter;
- Use other ingredients such as herbs, to flavour your meals;
- Enjoy fresh foods, especially fruits and vegetables, as often as possible
More topics:
> The key to healthy eating
> Breakfast - the most important meal
> Healthy choices when eating away from home
> Getting enough fibre?
> Facts on fat
> Eat plant foods for optimal health
> The importance of water
> Exercise matters
