Answers for your diet questions
Is vegetable salad good? Making and eating vegetable salad is one of the best ways of enjoying the nutritional goodies these vegetables have to offer.
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These vegetables are loaded with fibre, minerals, vitamins, antioxidants, iron among others.
Their filling effect is a plus for those who need to lower their blood sugar, blood cholesterol and weight.
If you are often constipated or suffering from irritable bowel disease, you need loads of fibre.
Vegetable salads are the best way to go because they give you fibre and no or just very little energy.
Remember to prepare vegetable salads without any salad creams or mayonnaise. Since the latter will only add bad fats and excess energy to your salad, ripping you off the good benefits in the salad.
What should I look out for when eating pear?
A 100g (about half of a medium sized) avocado pear has 160 calories of energy, 2 grams of protein and 15 grams of healthy fats.
It also contains 9 grams of carbohydrates but 7 of those are fibre so there are only 2 “net” carbohydrates, making this a low-carb friendly plant food.
Avocados do not contain any cholesterol or sodium and are low in saturated fat.
Though the information above makes them look very nutritious, you definitely have to be careful about the quantity of the pear you eat at a serving.
Just a quarter to about half of a medium sized pear is enough at a go. Add them to your vegetable salads and breads.
You can also eat them raw or with some of your favourite “ampesi” meals.
What should I look out for in my meals when my blood cholesterol is high?
You definitely should not fancy eating fried foods when your cholesterol levels are high. Boil or grill those foods such as meat, fish, yam, plantain, rice among others.
The fat from meat can also contribute to increase your cholesterol level so reduce its consumption to the barest minimum. This does not call for avoidance of meat intake.
Try and remove the fat from meat anyway; so very lean cuts are the best choice. You can also grill or smoke your meat to remove the fat.
You need loads of fibre/roughage in your meals; get this mainly from vegetables since they come with little or no energy.
Try and eat all three meals of the day if your cholesterol is high. Those who skip meals end up developing high blood cholesterol.
I have reduced the amount of food I eat but I still don’t lose weight
Weight loss is not achieved merely by reducing how much food you eat. Reducing food quantity is, however, a step in the right direction.
Ensure also that the energy content of your food is reduced (talk to your dietician about details on how to reduce the energy in your food).
You also have to increase the fibre content of your food (your dietician will help).
In a nut shell, you need a dietician’s guidance if you want to lose weight.
In addition to changes made to your food, regular exercise is needed. This should be a daily affair.
Do not exercise only once in a while. Go every day and work-out not less than 30 minutes continuously.
Be consistent with all you are doing towards losing weight and the weight will come down.
The writer of this article is a Dietician at Trust Hospital & Clinics. Grab copies of his book titled: “Diet, Health & Wellness”. For copies; Contact: 0244090262, [email protected].
