How to ensure you get the right balance
To make it easier to maintain the right balance of foods and nutrient in your daily diet, try thinking about it in terms of ‘food groups’.
There are five main food groups, and foods are allocated to one of them depending on the kind of nutrients they provide in the diet.
For example, pasta which provides lots of carbohydrates is classified as being part of the breads, cereals and starchy foods group.
For good health it’s important to eat the right balance of these foods.
The main food groups
Fruit and vegetables
Fruit and vegetables should play a large part in your healthy diet.
Generally lower in calories, quick to prepare and easy to serve, they’re a tasty, healthy addition to any meal.
They’re also rich in vitamins, minerals and powerful compounds that can fight disease.
So how much is the right amount? Generally speaking, we should all be eating five portions of different fruit & veg each day to ensure we’re getting the benefits of this essential food group.
Bread, other cereals and potatoes
Carbohydrate foods like these tend to be quite filling (so you don’t get hungry as quickly) and generally lower in fat - until you add butter or a sauce that is, so go easy!
Choose types that are higher in fibre, which is good for your digestion and general well being. Eight out of ten of us currently don’t eat enough fibre, meaning most of us aren’t feeling the benefits we should be.
How much should you eat? About one third of your plate should be taken up with foods from this group, which should ensure you get enough of the energy you need.
Milk and dairy foods
Foods in this group are an important source of minerals, primarily calcium which is essential for building strong bones and teeth.
Generally we should all be eating 2 to 3 servings per day such as milk, cheese or yoghurt – low fat, preferably – to meet your calcium needs.
1 serving equates to
- 200 ml semi-skimmed milk
- 1 match box sized piece hard cheese
- 1 medium pot yoghurt
Meat, fish and alternatives
Meat and fish are an important source of protein, vitamins and minerals, so aim for 1-2 servings each day to be sure of getting the nutrients you need.
In addition, try and have at least two portions of fish each week, one of which should be an oily variety such as mackerel, salmon, sardines or tuna. Oily fish is a great source of omega 3 fats – renowned for their benefits to health, especially for helping to keep your heart healthy. Canned and frozen fish are really nutritious options too – it doesn’t have to always be fresh (be aware though that tinned tuna loses a lot of its omega 3 content during the canning process).
Foods containing sugar
Adding sugar to some food can help make them more palatable and so help you to get valuable nutrients that you may not get otherwise, for example breakfast cereals or bitter fruit. Treat foods such as sweets or cakes are fine to be included in the diet – they are simply meant to be eaten in moderation. And of course, make sure to brush your teeth twice a day to keep them healthy.
Fruit like peaches, apples and plums can be used to make tasty puddings and desserts – try making a blackberry and apple crumble or having poached apricots with natural yoghurt.
Foods containing fat
We all need a certain amount of fat in our diet, but it needs to be the right type and in the right quantities. Fat provides more than twice the calories than carbohydrate or protein too, so eating a low fat diet can help manage your body weight (link to body weight/energy section).
Not all fats are the same. Although we should be eating less of some fats (saturated) some can actually be beneficial for us (unsaturated fats such as omega 3’s).
Saturated fat. The most common type of fat in a ‘typical’ diet - in general we should be eating less saturated fat. That’s because it can increase LDL (bad) cholesterol levels, raising the risk of heart disease and high blood pressure. We should try to reduce how much of this type of fat we are eating.
To cut down on saturated fat, choose leaner cuts of meat, low fat dairy products and eat high fat treat foods in moderation . In addition, look out for spreads that are low in saturated fat, instead containing the beneficial mono-unsaturated and poly-unsaturated fats.
Unsaturated fats do not increase LDL cholesterol levels. In fact, mono-unsaturated and poly-unsaturated fat can actually encourage ‘good’ HDL cholesterol levels, which help to keep our heart fit and healthy.
You’ll find mono-unsaturated fat in olive and rapeseed oils as well as in soft spreads. Poly-unsaturated fats (omega 3 & omega 6) can be found in sunflower and corn oil, nuts, seeds, lean cuts of meat and oily fish. Oily fish are a great source of omega 3 – try to eat this type of fish at least once a week.
Trans fats are also unsaturated fats – but this type aren’t beneficial like mono- and poly-unsaturated fats are. Similarly to saturated fat they increase levels of LDL (bad) cholesterol levels – however they also decrease levels of protective HDL (good) cholesterol levels.
Salt
Government guidelines tell us to eat no more than 6g of salt per day, although most of us are still having more like 9g.
Most nutrition panels on food packs show the amount of salt present as well as the amount of sodium. If only sodium is shown, however, simply multiply the figure by 2.5 to calculate the salt content.
Because of their size, children should have even less salt, as the list below explains:
- 1 to 3 years – 2g a day (0.8g sodium)
- 4 to 6 years – 3g salt a day (1.2g sodium)
- 7 to 10 years – 5g a day (2g sodium)
- 11 and over – 6g a day (2.5g sodium)