Kent Sport Health and Fitness Manager Jeni Dexter provides some useful nutrition advice for those looking for the vegetarian alternative
The plate in the image below shows the proportion of protein, carbohydrates, fats and fruit and vegetables as part of a balanced diet. It is suitable for everyone except children under two years of age, who have different nutritional requirements. The main healthy eating messages are the same for everybody. As part of a healthy balanced diet, we should all be trying to do the following:
- Eat at least five portions of a variety of fruit and veg every day, choose fruit and veg of different colours and have a mixture of cooked and fresh produce
- Base about a third of meals on starchy foods such as pasta, rice, cereals and pulses such as beans, peas and lentils.
- Try to cut down on saturated fat. Instead, choose foods that are rich in unsaturated fat, such as vegetable oils (including sunflower, rapeseed and olive oil), avocados, nuts and seeds.
- Try to grill, bake, poach, boil, steam, dry-fry or microwave instead of frying or roasting in oil.
- Eat a variety of protein foods such as pulses, soya, tofu, Quorn, dairy products, eggs and nuts.
- Cut down on sugar.
- Reduce your salt intake to under 6 grams a day. Try not to add salt to your food at the table.
- Drink about 1.2 litres (6 to 8 glasses) of water a day; more if you exercise.
To stay up to date on Kent Sport’s #KentSportStayWellAtHome series of daily blogs and vlogs to keep you positive during these unusual times, Like us on Facebook and follow us on Instagram and Twitter @UniKentSports – we hope you enjoy and join in!
