Maintaining a healthy diet can be really difficult, especially during the lockdown. You are crammed up in your house with the same people you see every day, not going out unless for a walk or to get essentials. Life is literally boring, and there’s no nicest way to kill boredom than chewing on something now and then, but you also need to maintain a healthy diet.
What is a healthy diet?
According to World Health Organisation (WHO), a healthy diet helps to protect against malnutrition in all its forms, as well as non-communicable diseases (NCDs), such as diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and cancer.
Limiting intake of free sugars to less than 10% of total energy intake is part of a healthy diet. A further reduction to less than 5% of total energy intake is suggested for additional health benefits, according to WHO.
WHO Member States have agreed to reduce the global population’s intake of salt by 30% by 2025; they have also agreed to halt the rise in diabetes and obesity in adults and adolescents as well as in childhood overweight by 2025.
Useful advice on maintaining a healthy diet
Fruits and vegetables
Consuming too much sugar can have serious health implications, so instead of that chocolate bar or a bag of chips, grab an apple as a snack, and always include vegetables in your meals.
According to Medical News Today, excess sugar consumption can cause inflammation, oxidative stress, and obesity. These factors influence a person’s risk of developing cancer.
Fats
According to WHO, the chances of developing NCD can be lowered by reducing saturated fats to less than 10% of total energy intake, reducing trans-fats to less than 1% of total energy intake, and replacing both saturated fats and trans-fats with unsaturated fats.
Other ways to reduce fat in your diet include, steaming or boiling instead of frying when cooking, limiting the consumption of baked and fried foods, and pre-packaged snacks.
Salt, sodium and potassium
Most of the time, we are not aware of how much salt we consume from processed foods like bacon, ham, cheese, and snacks.
According to WHO, reducing salt intake to the recommended level of less than 5 g per day could prevent 1.7 million deaths each year. High sodium intake and insufficient potassium intake contribute to high blood pressure, which in turn increases the risk of heart disease and stroke. That’s why you need to be cognisant of your salt intake.