Carbs? Fats? Salt? What and how much is good for me?

I always find myself asking this. I also find a great number of friends asking me this, now that I am on this "Health Trip" as they call it. So, I had a rough idea, but didn't know the exact details. I decided to go on the hunt and found the best site out there to help you with exactly this. Where better to go than to the UK Food Standards Agency Eatwell site?

Now, before you run over to their website and get all the information you can possibly need, be warned, their site is massive and has a huge deal of information, helpful information. You could find yourselves reading for hours. So, what I am trying to do is summaries some of the things, that I think are important to know, whether you are trying to lose weight or not.

The FSA's website has a great section on understanding food labels. Now, I know the way food labels need to be represented, change from country to country, but I think the main message is the same. Here in the UK, they show the contents for each section (Calories, Fats etc) per 100g and sometimes for the whole contents or for the product manufacturers recommended portion size. The 100g is mandatory, by law in this country. Anything edible should always have it.

I will go through the different nutritional values in a second, just want to touch on the GDA, which you will see in this box. This is the General Daily Allowance. This is an estimate and a guideline, so you can see how much a chunk of your daily allowance this is. Beware as this is the guideline for the average person.

Right, lets start on the nutritional values in those labels:


Energy
This is the amount of energy this product gives your. Your body needs energy to function, consider it the raw fuel. This is generally measured in Calories (kcal) or Joules (kJ). The suggested daily calorie intake is 1940 calories per day for women and 2550 for men. Again, this is a guideline. When losing weight, you can calculate your maintenance figure, this being the number of calories or joules to maintain your weight. Any weight-loss diary app or site can work this out for you, dependant on your height and weight and age and activeness. This is why we count them when we want to lose weight, but there are better things to look out for.

Protein
This causes a great deal of confusion; does this cause weight gain or weight loss? I know the Atkins diet works on the principle that protein increases your metabolism and hence you lose weight, but I am not here to judge on that. What I do know, is that protein is responsible for repairs, especially to muscle tissue, in your body. Hence people who go to the gym, take protein shakes after the work out. On average, we get more than we need. This excess of protein is converted into many things, one of them is also fat to be stored. However, the excess protein and its result in weight gain is not as high as say fat and some carbs (See below).

Carbohydrates
These are split into 2 groups, simple and complex. Simple being sugar and natural sugars found in fruit etc and will be labelled with a "of which sugars". Complex being the ones found in starchy foods. Now, complex carbs should be our main source of energy. Many people believe they make you fat, but in reality, they contain less than half the calories that say fat would. The butter and cheese you put on the bread is where the excess energy comes from. Starchy foods are good for us and should make up a 3rd of our diets. When trying to lose weight, go for the wholegrain variety, I find these more filling and they have more fibre, calcium, iron and vitamin B and other things of goodness. Starchy foods include: Bread, Rice, Pasta, Potatoes, just to name a few.

Fats
This is where we can save and where we should be looking. Fats come in 3 main forms, saturates, monounsaturates and polyunsaturates, the latter 2 being good fats and actually lowering cholesterol. Saturates are the bad ones. The average man should have no more than 30g or this a day and the average women 20g. I know that is the average, but when looking at 100g, if the contents is 1.5g it is low and if it is 5g or more, it is high. This is the guideline they use on the traffic light system (http://www.eatwell.gov.uk/foodlabels/trafficlights/) which indicates whether a product is high or low on nutritions. When next you go to the shop, just have a look at these numbers, and see where the products you normally buy end up. Most of mine ended in the high category. Those are the ones we need to worry about.

Fibre
Wherever I read up on fibre the first thing that is mentioned, is that people do not get enough of this. There are 2 kinds, insoluble and soluble. The former can't be digested and hence helps other food and waste move through your gut more easily and pretty much helps the bowels stay healthy and prevents constipation. Also, foods high in insoluble fibre as heavier and make us feel full quicker. The soluble fibre helps reduce cholesterol in the blood.

Salts
I love my salt, but the more I read up on it the more I am getting the message, that it just isn't good for you. They say, you should have no more than 6g a day. That is not a great deal of salt. Again, when reading labels, 0.3g or less per 100g is low and high is at 1.5g per 100g. Cutting this down, reduces blood pressure which in turn reduces your risk of stroke or heart disease.

Anyway, I told you this post would be long. I will try to follow my own advice and not be a hypocrite. I will keep you posted on my progress and any other experiences I have with this. I am thinking of starting a food plan, where I actively plan every meal for a month and follow it strictly. I think this would be good to see if I can stick to it, good for my health and weight, as well as good for my wallet, as I wont buy anything I don't need.

As always, if you have any questions or comments, let me know below.
Also, if there is any grammar or spelling mistakes, let me know as well, as I know my posts aren't always perfect!

Pierre