It can be MEANINGful to Eat Healthily
We now know that vascular diseases including poorly-controlled / uncontrolled high blood pressure, and high blood cholesterol, as well as diabetes may lead to dementia. Lifestyle changes including eating healthily is one sure way to better control or prevent vascular diseases and diabetes. The problem is many people are of the opinion that healthy eating will make life boring and bland. Yet, to me, living with dementia may ultimately make life boring and bland too, so I choose healthy eating to try to prevent these vascular diseases and diabetes especially with a family history like mine. My Healthy Plate 3 times a day is a good start to eat healthily.
Personally, in addition to incorporating My Healthy Plate dietary guidelines, I have been faithful to the following 3 tips.
- Reducing the amount of salt in your food is one sure way of lowering your blood pressure. Salt contains 40% sodium. An average healthy adult should consume no more than 2, 000 mg of sodium (or 1 teaspoon of salt). Do you know that fresh meat and vegetables naturally contain traces of sodium in them? And all processed or canned foods contain considerable amount of sodium. Looking at the amount of sodium found in the day-to-day food that we eat here in Singapore, most of us do consume more than 2,000 mg of sodium. On average, an individual consumes about 3,527 mg of sodium daily in Singapore (Health Promotion Board, 2005). Let’s take a look at the amount of sodium that is contained in some of our yummy favourite local foods.
These are not all. What about the following sauces that we use with in our meals?
- Light soya sauce with the fishball: 1 teaspoon = 365 mg
- Dark soya sauce with half-boiled eggs: 1 teaspoon = 200 mg
- Tomato sauce / chilli sauce with french fries: 1 teaspoon = 50-60 mg
I’ll leave you to do your calculations. To reduce my daily intake of salt, I don’t dip my food in sauces. In fact, I use very little salt in my cooking – a sprinkle, I would say. To make my food more tasty and less bland, I use herbs, garlic, onions, basil, rosemary, lemon, orange, pear etc. I try to eat more fresh food and try not to eat processed food like ham, bacon, french fries, smoked salmon, pizza, nuggets, salted eggs, sausages etc. Oh yes, cheese… they said that cheese is good for your bones, but cheese happens to contain high amount of sodium too, knowing how they were made.
2. Blood Cholesterol – Your HDL and LDL
According to Health Promotion Board (2005), HDL cholesterol or what most people termed as ‘good’ cholesterol removes cholesterol from your body cells and transport it to your liver for it to be broken down – HDL helps to ‘clean’ your arteries. Conversely, LDL cholesterol or what most people termed as ‘bad’ cholesterol reverses that process. LDL transports cholesterol from your liver to your body cells leading to cholesterol being deposited on the inner walls of your arteries, thereby clogging your arteries. Saturated fat and trans-fat in our diet increase LDL, while unsaturated fat lowers LDL and monounsaturated fat helps increase HDL levels.
So, the trick to win the cholesterol battle in your body is to reduce LDL and increase HDL levels in your body. In layman terms, eat less saturated fat and trans-fat and eat more unsaturated fat and monounsaturated fat. Having said so, unsaturated fat and monounsaturated fat are still fats, hence, should be consumed in moderation.
Sources of Saturated Fat: Animal products including fatty cuts of meat such as ribeye steak (Yum!), the skin and fat of poultry (oh, hmm… the roasted duck drumstick, yum too!), and the high-fat dairy products including butter, full cream milk and milk products. Oh yes, and the yummy coconut milk and coconut cream that we use in curry, nasi lemak, kueh kueh, etc.
Sources of Trans-fat: Trans-fat is the by-product of vegetable oils that are ‘hydrogenated’ or hardened for commercial deep-frying use. Hence, trans-fat is found in your commercially deep-fried fast foods, frozen deep-fried food products and also processed products including factory-made cakes, pastries, biscuits and potato chips.
Sources of Monounsaturated Fat: Avocados, canola oil, olive oil, peanut oil, and most nuts and avocados.
Sources of Polyunsaturated Fat: Corn oil, safflower oil, soybean oil, sunflower oil. Oily fish is a great source of unsaturated fat (especially the omega-3 fat), such as codfish, herring, mackerel, salmon, sardines, and tuna
Due to my allergy to coconut milk, coconut cream and high-fat dairy products, I had eliminated coconut milk, coconut cream and full cream milk from my diet. But, I am not so successful with the ribeye steak and roasted duck. My attempt to cut down trans-fat in my diet has been pretty successful too. Currently, I am eating deep fried food less than once or twice a week; potato chips is a rare treat these days, like once in half a year. Yet, I don’t feel deprived, Once you reduce fatty foods from your diet, your body will crave for them less and less. Like I am not tempted by Old Chang Kee whenever I walk past its outlet, nor am I lingering at the potato chips shelves in supermarkets. In addition, I always remind myself about the purpose for making all these dietary changes. It is meaningful to remember that I am making these dietary changes to reduce my risk to vascular dementia. And reducing my risk to vascular dementia is so important to me that it instantly replaces any feelings of deprivation that surfaces. Overtime, those feelings of deprivation surfaced less and less, and I no longer feel deprived as I can see the meaning to my actions.
3. Here’s the thing about diabetes. Contrary to popular belief, diabetes is not solely about the amount of sugar that you are consuming or have been consuming. And sugar is not only about the white or brown sugar that you see in cafés. Honey is also a form of sugar despite people swearing by its health benefits. Fruits naturally contain fructose and sucrose which are other forms of sugar. Hence, even the freshly squeezed fruit juices do contain considerably higher amount of fructose and sucrose as compared to eating the fruits. In the same category as fruit juices, drinks like alcohol, sodas, 2-in-1 and 3-in-1 drinks are not friends to diabetes too. They contain empty calories. So pay attention to your drinks!
Like I’ve said before, it’s not just the sugar. Diabetes is really about the calories and carbohydrates (carbs) intake. So, this brings us to our carbs…. rice, noodles, bread, potatoes, pastas, etc. Again, exercising moderation is necessary here. On one hand, our body, especially our brain, needs the glucose from the carbs in our diet; hence, eliminating carbs from our diet totally may not be such a wonderful idea after all. On the other hand, over-consumption increases our risk to diabetes, therefore, it is wise to eat follow the guidelines of My Healthy Plate or as per advised by your doctor or dietitian.
Well, life isn’t about black and white nor is it about all or nothing… You can still enjoy your wine, cakes, pasta, or orange juice, you just have to reduce calories from elsewhere in your diet for that day. It’s about knowing what you are or will be eating or drinking, making informed choices and appropriate ‘trade-offs’ or substitutions, controlling the portion that you are consuming and move more subsequently.
Reference
- Health Promotion Board. 2005. ABCs of Healthy Eating. Singapore: The Daily Bread.