What’s The Word?

GLOSS chats with UK-based dietician, Fareeha Jay, for some insights into popular food movements.

It used to be that three square meals a day was enough to keep a person healthy and kicking – get in your meat and veggies is what people would say. These days though, it’s said that your food intake needs to be broken up into 5-6 small meals.

Sounds simple enough, but wait, there is also debate on which foods you are eating. It goes as far as tracing the source and checking its composition before you even think of putting that can of beans in your basket. And if this isn’t a tad overwhelming already, you also have more than a handful of diets that are toted as being ‘the healthiest of them all.’

So How Do You Choose?

Dietician Fareeha Jay, the founder of Aap Ki Dietician, breaks it down:

Clean Eating

The term clean eating is used a lot on social media but to date there has never been any agreement on what it really means. The main principle of clean eating, however, is eliminating processed food, reducing salt intake, eating more vegetables, choosing whole grains and eliminating refined sugar. For some people, it also means you need to be gluten, and dairy-free.

Although, all these seem like healthy choices yet we don’t need to label our diet as being clean. According to this concept cakes, biscuits, crisps, pakora, samosa are all “unclean.” And when we have these foods it creates a feeling of guilt, so that we slowly start developing a negative relationship with food which becomes a dilemma.

In the end, we don’t need to label diets as “clean,” rather we need to focus on the overall diet quality. Take high fat and high sugar foods as treats once a while but pay attention to more beneficial food groups.

Organic Vs Inorganic Food

Studies show that organic foods are high in certain anti-oxidants and lower in pesticides compared to inorganic, conventional, foods. But that’s not all, even if foods are organic, there are many other variables that can affect its nutritional composition, such as the field and soil as well as the season they it was grown in.

Vegetarianism

This is a diet based on grains, pulses, legumes, nuts, seeds, vegetables, fruits, fungi, algae, and yeast with or without eggs. This diet can be personal to the person, based on their beliefs, religion or their own personal choice.

It’s believed that most vegetarians won’t get enough protein, calcium, vitamin B 12 and iron. However, with proper planning it is achievable.

Source of iron will be: eggs, pulses, dried fruit, dark-green vegetables, whole meal bread and fortified cereals.

Sources for B12 would be: milk cheese eggs, fortified yeast extracts like marmite cheese, fortified breakfast cereal and fortified soya products.

Sources of calcium: tofu, calcium-fortified foods e.g. soya milk, yoghurts, rice and oat drinks, green leafy vegetables, brown or white bread, sesame seeds, nuts, apricots and figs.

Source of protein: beans, lentils, chickpeas soya and soya products, seeds, nuts grains such as wheat rice and maize dairy products or eggs if eating.

Well-planned vegetarian diets can be appropriate and fulfill your nutritional requirements.

Fareeha’s Top Tips For Leading A Nutritious Life

Include all food groups in your diet in moderation.

You need to develop a positive relationship with food, so that every time you have a treat, you don’t feel guilty. You have to stop using terms like “cheat meal,” rather you need to accept them as part of your life as occasional treats.

Never starve yourself.
Include as much fibre as possible.
Snack on fruit and vegetables.
Swap foods for healthy options – chocolate for dates, sweets for raisins, fried chips for oven chips and so and so.
Think of nutrition not just for losing your weight but to nourish yourself.
Don’t think of it as a goal but think of it as a way of life.

Recipes

All Food Group Noodles

150 g whole wheat pasta
1 table spoon rapeseed oil or vegetable oil
2 ½ cm piece fresh ginger, finely chopped
2 large carrots
1 yellow pepper
1 red pepper
4 spring onions
1 cup boiled peas
4 chicken breasts
2 tablespoon soya sauce
1 teaspoon white vinegar
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste½ teaspoon red chilli powder (optional)

Boil the whole grain noodles, then drain.
Heat oil in a wok, then stir-fry the ginger, carrot, peppers and spring onion, over high heat for 2-3 minutes.
Add boiled peas, soya sauce, vinegar, salt, pepper, red chilli powder (optional) and cook for another 2-3 minutes.
In a separate pan, shred chicken and stir fry it in ginger.
Mix all the above ingredients with the boiled noodles.

TIP: Toss in some cheese to get all food groups in one meal.

Quick Salad