DIETING TIPS

Go for the long haul.  Adopt a plan which you know you can stick to for long term weight loss and good health, rather than a difficult fad diet which produces only transient weight loss.

Useful dieting tip to try:

• Get involved with the diet planning

• Reduce consumption of foods high in fat and added sugar

• Increase intake of plant-based foods such as wholegrains, fruit, vegetables and pulses, as these provide bulk and promote the feeling of fullness

• Drink plenty of fluids throughout the day

• Drink a glass of water before you begin to eat, and another glass with your food

• Eat slowly

• Limit concentrated sweet and alcoholic beverages

• Eat small portions

• Avoid skipping meals as this may increase your risk of subsequent over-eating

ALL ABOUT DIETARY FATS

Fats that we consume in our everyday diets have long been blamed for a whole host of health problems. Let's us look at fats in greater detail here.

There are 9 calories of calories per gram of fat, making fat the best store of energy in the body. This also means that by having more fat in the diet, one would increase the calorie density of one's diet.

Generally, there are 3 classes of fatty acids:

1. Saturated Fatty Acids (SFA)

2. Mono-unsaturated Fatty Acids (MUFA)

3. Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids (PUFA).

There is also the much talked about Trans fats (TFA), which are actually geometric isomers of Unsaturated Fatty Acids that adapt a Saturated Fatty Acid-like configuration.

SFA and MUFA are not dietary essentials as they can be produced naturally in the body. On the other hand, PUFA's (n-6 PUFA and n-3 PUFA), cannot be synthesized by the body, and they have to be consumed in the diet. They are called essential fatty acids.

COMMON MYTHS ABOUT DIETARY FATS

1.  All Margarine contain Trans fats, so is it a healthier alternative to butter?

Soft margarine has less than half the amount of trans fats compared to hard margarine. A teaspoon (5g) of soft margarine contains less than 1 g of trans fat. There are currently also “trans fat free” soft margarines available.

Compared to butter, soft margarine contains less than half the amount of trans fat and saturated fat. Hence, soft margarine is a healthier alternative to butter.

2.  All vegetable oils are the same.

Most blended vegetable cooking oils contain palm olein as the main ingredient, and this contains about 40-50% saturated fat, a much higher proportion compared to pure oils (which contain between 10-20%). Pure vegetable oils include corn, soybean, canola, peanut, sunflower and safflower. They have proportionately higher levels of unsaturated fat rather than saturated fat.

3. Reduced-fat foods are always low in fat.

Foods labeled as “Reduced-Fat” mean that they are lower in fat content then their regular versions, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they are low in fat.