Dietary Guidelines
According to the Nutrition Center’s Wheel of Five, you eat healthy. In addition, introduce regularity in your diet and you will see that nutrition according to these rules benefits your health.
1. Add variety to your meal.
2. Don’t eat too much, but get enough exercise.
3. Eat lots of vegetables, fruit and wholemeal bread.
4. Watch out for saturated fats.
5. Handle food hygienically and safely.
Variation
Whoever introduces a lot of variety in his diet, in most cases gets all the necessary nutrients. In addition, variety is not only healthy, it is also nice to eat something different every time. By experimenting with new recipes, cooking also becomes a lot more fun.
If you do go for ready-made meals, make sure that the meal contains enough energy – about six hundred to a thousand calories. You do a varied diet by eating something every day from each of the five sections of the Wheel of Five below:
Box one: Vegetables and fruit.
Box two: (whole wheat) bread and potatoes, grain products, (brown) rice, macaroni, spaghetti or legumes.
Box three: Milk products, cheese and meat (meat products, chicken), fish, egg, and meat substitutes such as tofu or tempeh.
Box four: Margarine, low-fat margarine or olive oil.
Box five: Drinks, especially water.
Foods
Below you will find the recommended amounts of foods per day, which have been drawn up by the Nutrition Center. These amounts provide sufficient nutrients for an average lifestyle:
• Five to seven slices of bread.
• Three to five potatoes or 150-250 grams of pasta or rice
• Four serving spoons of vegetables (two hundred grams).
• Two fruits.
• Two glasses of milk (products).
• One or two slices of cheese.
• One hundred grams of meat, fish, chicken, tofu or tempeh.
• One or two slices of meat.
• Five grams of low-fat margarine/margarine per slice of bread.
• Fifteen grams of margarine for the preparation of the hot meal.
• Two liters of fluid.
Vegetables and fruit
Fruit and vegetables are important suppliers of vitamins, minerals and fiber. In addition, they help reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and some cancers. Therefore, eat at least two hundred grams of vegetables and two pieces of fruit every day.
Bread and potatoes
There is much to be said about bread and potatoes. The myth that it would make you fat has been around for a long time. In addition, potatoes have lost a lot of ground due to the increasing popularity of rice and pasta. Bread, potatoes, rice, pasta and legumes are rich in starch and fiber and contain hardly any fat. Make sure that you use these products fully, because they form a good basis for a healthy diet and are absolutely not fattening.
fats
Although we need fat as a source of unsaturated fatty acids, we must be careful with saturated fat. Fat is a notorious fattener. To reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, it is wise to choose products that are rich in unsaturated fat. Some tips to limit the consumption of saturated fat:
• Opt for semi-skimmed milk and skimmed milk products.
• Use (diet) low-fat margarine thinly on bread.
• Eat more fish instead of meat; fish usually contains little fat and mostly unsaturated fat.
• Limit fatty snacks such as cheese, sausage, biscuits and pastries.
• Choose baking and roasting products with as little saturated fat as possible.
keep weight
Because being overweight can lead to health problems, it is important to maintain your weight. A varied diet and sufficient exercise is the best combination to achieve this. Eat regularly and never skip a meal.
Economical with salt
Too much salt is bad for your kidneys and it increases the risk of high blood pressure. Spices are a good alternative to flavor the meal. If you do use salt, choose iodine-containing salt. In addition, be moderate with pretzels and savory snacks. Rather grab a carrot or piece of cucumber.
Drink plenty of fluids
Drinking plenty of fluids is essential for the elimination of waste products and the prevention of dehydration. A lack of fluids can cause headaches and nausea. In addition, a lack of moisture can lead to constipation. So drink at least two liters a day.
What you drink does matter. Preference is given to water, spring water, diet soft drinks, tea and coffee without sugar. It is better not to drink alcohol every day and certainly no more than three glasses at a time. A lot of alcohol is bad for your body and especially for your liver.snacks
Three (varied) meals a day are in principle sufficient to get all the nutrients. However, in practice it is often different. At ten thirty a biscuit with the coffee and at three o’clock a chocolate bar… To prevent obesity, there are plenty of healthier alternatives for a snack. Try an apple, a tangerine or a currant bun. In addition, taking more than four snacks a day can lead to tooth decay.
Packaging
In order to eat healthily, you must first know what you are eating. The packaging gives you a lot of information about the ingredients, the best-before date and in many cases the nutritional values. But the labels are not always easy to read and sometimes cause confusion. For example, what are E numbers and what do the letters ADH mean?
E numbers
The so-called E numbers are additives – additives – to foodstuffs that have been researched and registered by the government. These substances are added to make the product spreadable, tasty and shelf-stable. They are not harmful to health, as long as they are contained in the permitted quantities.
The E numbers are divided into six groups by function. For example, colorants are designated with a code that falls between E100 and E200, preservatives with a code between E201 and E300 and flavor enhancers between E601 and E700. When you come across the code E 202 on a packaging, you know that there is a preservative.RDA
The letters ADH are increasingly adorning the packaging. This is an abbreviation of the term Recommended Daily Allowance. The RDA can differ per age group and per gender. The website of the nutrition center lists the RDAs per vitamin and mineral for different age groups, per gender.
Hygienic and safe
To avoid food poisoning, it is important that you handle food hygienically and safely. It is therefore best to check the best before date in the supermarket. It regularly happens that products are not removed from the shelf in time. The Nutrition Center also gives a number of tips to get started in the kitchen responsibly:
• Always wash and/or peel fruit and vegetables.
• Use as few wooden aids as possible; wood is a breeding ground for bacteria.
• Heat chicken, egg and pork until fully cooked.
• Keep raw and prepared foods separate.
• Wash your hands regularly.
• Leftovers covered in the refrigerator and never keep for more than two days.
• Use a clean work cloth every day.