Advice file

Fibre

Adults need 30 grammes of fibre per day. Why? Because it helps the diges­tive system to work properly and pro­tects it against diseases like cancer. Here's a list of foods which have a high fibre content (notice that they're all grown either directly or originally in the ground): — Vegetables — Nuts — Cereals — Beans — Fruit — Wholemeal bread — Pasta.

Fat

There are two kinds of fat — satu­rated and unsaturated. The healthy kind is unsaturated and youcan find this in fish which contain a lot of oil (e.g. trout and mackerel), nuts, soya oil and some-kinds of margarine. Saturated fat, on the other hand, is found in meat, dairy products, crisps, cakes, biscuits and chocolate. Too much of this variety can cause your body serious problems.

Here's how:

(a) Fat contains a lot of calories, and much of these can make you overweight. Seriously overweight people often suffer from a long list of health problems.

(b) fat also contains cholesterol. Too much of this can gradually start to block your arteries. This means that your heart has to work harder than usual to pump blood around your body. The result? Heart disease and in some severe cases, heart attacks.

To reduce the saturated fat in your diet: (1) Grill food, don't fry it; (2) Choose low-fat products (cheeses, milk, etc.) whenever possible.

Sugar

Sugar contains energy (in the form of calories), but that's all. Very sweet foods don't give you any vitamins, min­erals, fibre, fat or protein. So, although sweets, cakes, cola drinks and chocolate are delicious, they're not very healthy — they cause obesity and they're also bad for your teeth. If you'd like to re­duce the amount of sugar in your diet, here are some rips to help you.

o Eat more fruit (it contains all the sug­ar your body needs) – and fewer cakes, biscuits and chocolate.

o Reduce (or preferably cut out complete­ly)the sugar you take in tea/coffee.

o Choose breakfast cereals which are less ‘sugary’.

Salt

On average we eat about 10 grammes of salt per day. Twenty-five per cent of this consists of the salt we add to food ourselves. Twenty-five per cent occurs naturally in our diet. Fifty per cent is added to products by food manufactur­ers.

How much salt do we actually need? The answer is one gramme per day. Too much salt causes high blood pressure, which increases the risk of heart attacks and strokes.

Here are some ways to reduce the amount of salt in your diet:

• When you buy tinned vegetables, look for ones with 'No added salt' on the label.

• Eat fewer crisps, salted peanuts, etc.

• Don't add salt to food (a) while you're cooking it, (b) at the table.

• Add lemon juice, herbs or spices in­stead.