Nutrition and Diet

Developing healthy eating habits is the cornerstone to a good healthy life.

Principles

“We must eat to live and not live to eat”
“Let food be your medicine and not medicine be your food”

“Choose fresh and natural food”

“If it looks like it’s made in the factory, AVOID it”

Reduce / Avoid the following:

Food type	Examples	Replace with
Sugar / Fructose based syrup	Soft drinks, processed fruit juices, candies, pastries, ice creams, table sugar	Drinking water, black tea, green tea, black coffee, coconut water
Grains	Bread, pasta, wheat, spelt, rye, barley, rice	Eat much less
Vegetable oils	Soybean oil, sunflower oil, corn oil, margarine	Moderate amount of Coconut oil, flaxseed oil, MCT oil, olive oil
Transfat	Margarine	Moderate amount of butter, ghee, lard
Artificial sweeteners	Aspartame, sucralose, saccharin	A little bit of natural sweeteners eg stevia, erythritol, xylitol,
Highly processed food	Processed sausages, patties, meal replacements, microwave/ quick meals	Natural food

Choose / Eat the following:

Food type	Examples	Quantity / Amount per day
Vegetables	Broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, tomatoes, onions, garlic, peppers,	> 50% of total vege choice
Leafy Vegetables	Spinach, kailan, kale, watercress, cabbage, lettuce,	> 50% total vege choice
Eggs	Preferred free-range, pastured or omega-enriched eggs	1/ day
Fruits	All variety of fruits eg, banana, apples, berries, avocado, oranges, local fruits papaya, guava	Rotate/ eat different fruit everyday, Diabetes patients – guava, avocado, berries, citrus
Tubers	Potatoes, sweet potatoes, yams, turnips	Minimal, < 20% of total vege choice
Nuts and Seeds	Almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts, pumpkin seeds	A handful
Healthy fats and oils	Extra virgin olive oil, coconut oil, avocado oil, MCT oil	1-2 tablespoons / day in cooking or direct
Meat	Chicken – free range preferred, turkey, lamb, beef, pork	Eat about a fistful size
Fish	Salmon, white fish eg Groupa, sea bass, deep sea fish
Seafood	Prawn, clams, shellfish	Minimal , avoid for those with allergies
Grains	Choose whole grains eg brown rice, oatmeal, millet, quinoa, wild rice, whole berry	Eat minimal whole grain as there are not much nutritional value Eg ½ cup serving size

Carbohydrates are one of the main macronutrients needed by our body for energy
There are 2 types of carbohydrates ie Simple and Complex
Simple carbs are simple sugars and processed sugars eg white bread, white sugar, pasta, candies and soft drinks
Complex carbs are usually whole grains, vegetable, tubers, beans and pulses
Recommended carbohydrate intake per day is 45-65% of total calories. 1gm for carbohydrate produce 4 kCal of energy
It is recommended to consume complex carbs so that glucose is slowly broken down and absorbed into the body’s blood stream to prevent high blood sugar level spikes.
Fibers are also an important part of carbs that are found in vegetables

Simple Carbs to Avoid	Complex Carbs Choices
Candies / Sweets	Dried fruit / Whole fruits
Soft Drinks / Soda	Fresh fruit juice or water with slice of fruit
White bread	Wholewheat / Brown bread / Sprouted grain bread
Pasta	Whole wheat pasta/ Black bean pasta/ Chickpea pasta
Cereal	Bran cereal/ Oatmeal

Protein is another essential macronutrient that consists of essential amino acids.
Our body does not produce majority of the protein amino acids and thus they need to come from other food source
Our body needs protein for growth and repair of virtually every part of our body tissues eg. like cells in muscle, bone, skin and hair. Protein is also converted into enzymes for metabolic reaction within the body
Recommended protein intake is 10-35% of daily calories. Protein requirement per day is 0.8 to 1 gm of protein per kg body weight
Good food sources of protein comes from meat, poultry, beans, peas, eggs, nuts and seeds

Fat is the 3rd main macronutrients that is needed by our bodies
Fat is very important for normal body function and metabolic enzyme reaction. Cholesterol isn’t all bad and it is needed by the body for hormone and enzyme metabolism
Recommended fat requirement is 10% of the total daily calories (1 gm fat = 9kCal energy)
Choose good fat over bad fat

Monounsaturated fat – olive oil, sesame oil, avocado, nut (almond, cashews, macadamia, hazelnuts)
Polyunsaturated fat – pumpkin seeds, sesame seed, flaxseed, walnut, fatty fish (salmon, tuna, mackerel, cod, seabass), fish oil, soy milk

Saturated Fat – although not as harmful as trans-fat, it is best consumed in moderation ie; 10% of your daily calories
red meat (beef, lamb, pork)
chicken skin
whole fat dairy (milk, cream, cheese)
butter, lard
coconut oil