The Main Food Groups

• 

  Fruit and vegetables

  Fruit and vegetables should play a large part in your healthy diet.

  Generally lower in calories, quick to prepare and easy to serve, they’re a tasty, healthy addition to any meal.

  They’re also rich in vitamins, minerals and powerful compounds that can fight disease.

  So how much is the right amount? Generally speaking, we should all be eating five portions of different fruit & vegetables each day to ensure we’re getting the benefits of this essential food group.

  For even healthier fruit and vegetables follow the top tips below!

  • Tinned fruit or vegetables make a great alternative to fresh, opt for those in fruit juice and spring water
  • Dried fruit should be eaten in moderation; 1 tablespoon equals a portion
  • Avoid frying vegetables as this will add fat and calories
  • Steaming or microwaving helps to retain more vitamins

  See www.nhs.org/5ADAY

• 

  Bread, other cereals and potatoes

  Carbohydrate foods like these tend to be quite filling (so you don’t get hungry as quickly) and generally lower in fat - until you add butter or a sauce that is, so go easy! Hovis fits in here – every loaf is made with natural wholewheat goodness to give you the foundations for a healthy diet.

  Choose types that are higher in fibre, which is good for your digestion and general well being. Eight out of ten of us currently don’t eat enough fibre, meaning most of us aren’t feeling the benefits we should be.

  How much should you eat? About one third of your plate should be taken up with foods from this group, which should ensure you get enough of the energy you need.

  The healthier options

  • Opt for higher fibre, granary, seeded or wholemeal bread, pasta and rice
  • When cooking potatoes leave the skin on – another great fibre provider
  • Use butter and spreads sparingly or use jams and marmalades instead
  • For those who like the taste of white bread but want a healthier option try Hovis Best of Both, which has added wheatgerm goodness
  • Use thickly sliced bread and less filling in sandwiches
  • Bagels, crumpets & English muffins are all good breakfast options
  • For healthier snacks try scones, tea breads and fruit breads with jam or low fat spread
  • Chose wholegrain or higher fibre breakfast cereals
  • If having chips, opt for thick cut, preferably oven cook and watch your portion size
• 

  Milk and dairy foods

  Foods in this group are an important source of minerals, primarily calcium which is essential for building strong bones and teeth.

  Generally we should all be eating 2 to 3 servings per day such as milk, cheese or yoghurt – low fat, preferably – to meet your calcium needs.

  1 serving equates to;

  • 200 ml semi-skimmed milk
  • 1 match box sized piece hard cheese
  • 1 medium pot yoghurt

  Get the best out of dairy

  • Opt for lower fat versions of dairy products like semi-skimmed milk and low fat yoghurt
  • Soft cheeses tend to be lower in fat than harder cheese
  • When cooking, use stronger flavoured cheese. You’ll use less of it for the same amount of flavour.
  • When making creamy desserts, look for alternatives to double cream, such as quark, fromage frais, or Greek yoghurt
• 

  Meat, fish and alternatives

  Meat and fish are an important source of protein, vitamins and minerals, so aim for 1-2 servings each day to be sure of getting the nutrients you need.

  In addition, try and have at least two portions of fish each week, one of which should be an oily variety such as mackerel, salmon, sardines or tuna. Oily fish is a great source of omega 3 fats – renowned for their benefits to health, especially for helping to keep your heart healthy. Canned and frozen fish are really nutritious options too – it doesn’t have to always be fresh (be aware though that tinned tuna loses a lot of its omega 3 content during the canning process).

  The healthy way

  • Choose leaner cuts of meat – cut off any visible fat
  • Grill rather than frying or basting
  • Avoid eating the skin
  • Higher fat meat products, such as sausages, will be higher in calories than leaner meats so opt for the healthier variants or eat in moderation
  • Opt for canned fish in spring water or tomato sauce, such as sardines
  • Beans and pulses are low in fat, yet provide essential protein and fibre - making them a great alternative to meat – especially for vegetarians
• 

  Sugar and Fat in foods

  Adding sugar to some food can help make them more palatable and so help you to get valuable nutrients that you may not get otherwise, for example breakfast cereals or bitter fruit. Treat foods such as sweets or cakes are fine to be included in the diet – they are simply meant to be eaten in moderation. And of course, make sure to brush your teeth twice a day to keep them healthy.

  Fruit like peaches, apples and plums can be used to make tasty puddings and desserts – try making a blackberry and apple crumble or having poached apricots with natural yoghurt.

  Healthier treats

  • If you fancy something sweet opt for foods that also fall within one of the other food groups, like fruit yoghurts, milk based desserts, wholemeal scones and jam
  • Lower calorie snacks and desserts include jelly, fruit salad, tinned fruit, sorbet, lower fat cakes
  • Choose individual cake slices or ‘mini’ versions to help keep an eye on calorie intakes
  • Opt for reduced sugar squashes and choose diet versions of soft drinks

  We all need a certain amount of fat in our diet, but it needs to be the right type and in the right quantities. Fat provides more than twice the calories than carbohydrate or protein too, so eating a low fat diet can help manage your body weight (link to body weight/energy section).

  Not all fats are the same. Although we should be eating less of some fats (saturated) some can actually be beneficial for us (unsaturated fats such as omega 3’s).

  1. Saturated fat.The most common type of fat in a ‘typical’ diet - in general we should be eating less saturated fat. That’s because it can increase LDL (bad) cholesterol levels, raising the risk of heart disease and high blood pressure. We should try to reduce how much of this type of fat we are eating.

  To cut down on saturated fat, choose leaner cuts of meat, low fat dairy products and eat high fat treat foods in moderation. In addition, look out for spreads that are low in saturated fat, instead containing the beneficial mono-unsaturated and poly-unsaturated fats.

  2. Unsaturated fats do not increase LDL cholesterol levels. In fact, mono-unsaturated and poly-unsaturated fat can actually encourage ‘good’ HDL cholesterol levels, which help to keep our heart fit and healthy.

  You’ll find mono-unsaturated fat in olive and rapeseed oils as well as soft spreads. Poly-unsaturated fats (omega 3 & omega 6) can be found in sunflower and corn oil, nuts, seeds, lean cuts of meat and oily fish. Oily fish are a great source of omega 3 – try to eat this type of fish at least once a week

  Trans fats are also unsaturated fats – but this type aren’t beneficial like mono- and poly-unsaturated fats are. Similarly to saturated fat they increase levels of LDL (bad) cholesterol levels – however they also decrease levels of protective HDL (good) cholesterol levels.

  Top tips for getting the fat balance right!

  • Choosing low fat foods can help to maintain a healthy body weight(less than 3g/100g)
  • High fat foods tend to also be high in calories so check out the label and choose lower fat and lower calorie versions of ready meals, cakes, biscuits and desserts
  • Choose low saturated fat foods (less than 1.5g/100g). Again, check out the label
  • Try out some of the lower fat snack products such as tea cakes, toast and jam, rice cakes, crisp breads and fruit breads
  • Nuts and seeds contain beneficial omega 3 & omega 6 fats
  • Switch to spreads rich in polyunsaturated, or monounsaturated fat
  • Use vegetable and olive oils, rather than butter or ghee, when cooking

  Salt

  Government guidelines tell us to eat no more than 6g of salt per day, although most of us are still having more like 9g.

  Recently, food manufacturers including Hovis have been playing their part by reducing salt in their products. In fact, we’ve removed 500 tonnes of salt from our bread since 2004.

  Most nutrition panels on food packs show the amount of salt present as well as the amount of sodium. If only sodium is shown, however, simply multiply the figure by 2.5 to calculate the salt content.

  Because of their size, children should have even less salt, as the list below explains:

  • 1 to 3 years – 2g a day (0.8g sodium)
  • 4 to 6 years – 3g salt a day (1.2g sodium)
  • 7 to 10 years – 5g a day (2g sodium)
  • 11 and over – 6g a day (2.5g sodium)

« previous