Introduction:
The task is to find out about nutrition and how to reduce fat, sugar,
salt and increasing fibre but also having a full range of commodities.
Healthy eating needs, not be dull. They take advantage of the natural
goodness and flavour of foods to make dishes that will appeal to the eye and also
to the palate.
A varied well balanced diet that limits the amount of sugar, salt
and fat but increases fibre, will help you feel fit and full of energy. It can
also help you lose weight.
Obesity:
Anybody who weighs 10% above the standard for their height is said
to be overweight, at 20% and above they are obese.
Fat is said to be an energy food because it contains lots
of calories in a small amount of food, e.g. 1 tsp of oil weighs 4g and contains
36 calories.
Fat is also present in easily eaten foods such as cakes,
biscuits, icecream and milk.
Obesity is a complex disorder and restriction of energy intake
is central to its management.
Heart disease:
Most heart attacks are caused by a blood clot (Thrombosis) a coronary artery that
is narrowed by atherosclerosis.
Evidence suggests that high total fat intake may increase
the risk of thrombosis.
Here are a few methods of reducing fat, sugar and salt.
Fat:
You shoulduse polyunsaturated oils and margarines but sometimes
you don't need to use fat at all because you could use herbs and spices to flavour
it instead. You should reduce the number of deep fried or shallow fried
items and grill it instead so it reduces the fat content, you should always offer
an alternative to red meat, you could feature fish, chicken and vegetarian dishes
on the menu.
When having a dessert you don't need to have cream you
can have fruit and yoghurt. You should never garnish with fat e.g. butter on vegetables.
1g of fat provides 37kj or 9 calories of food energy.
Sugar:
You don't need to eat too many snacks of fizzy drinks because that is
where most of the sugar is.
You could start by not having lots of sugar in your tea or coffee or to sweeten
any other drinks. Sugar is in so many things that you wouldn't imagine.
e.g.
Lactose is the sugar in milk but doesn't taste.
Maltose is formed from starch, is largely used by the brewing industry.
Fructose is found in ripe fruit and honey, it is more sweet tasting than sugar.
Glucose is a sugar which forms the basic unit of all other carbohydrates and is
found in many plants, honey and in the blood. It is less sweet tasting than
sugar.
Salt
Check the number of salted meats and fish used and always offer
a fresh alternative. You should always measure the salt, you should aim for 0.5g
per portion so you need digital scales. The stocks should be fresh whenever
possible as the commercial bouillon's and stock cubes are high in sodium; but you could
make instant stocks up to half strength and avoid further seasoning
in the dish.
For the seasoning you could use herbs and spices instead of
salt. Soups and sauces will always be much lower in sodium if made at
home rather than made from tins or dehydrated products. Never pre-sat
food e.g. chips. The customers should choose how much salt they require.
A method of increasing fibre:
You should increase you fibre by 50%, but to do it you have to
eat more refined foods such as, brown rice, wholemeal bread, wholemeal flour,
shredded wheat and puffed wheat.
They could eat more white meat instead of red meat and alot of
fruit, vegetables and pulses.
Cooking methods:
You could grill instead of shallow frying and you could shallow fry
instead of deep frying.
There are other methods of cookery e.g. boiling, steaming, dryroasting poaching, stewing braising, baking and microwaving.
The nutritional content of major foods:(Amount 100g)
Heinz tomato soup: fat 3.5g, salt 0.5g, fibre 0.6g
Apricot jam: fat 0.4g, sugar 56g, salt less than 0.1g, fibre 3.5g.
Conclusion:
I have found out that there is alot of hidden fat's, salts and sgars in different
foods to what we always eat. So we need to try and reduce it by having a balanced
menu so that the customer can decide what they want.
If we have a high fibre diet and a low fat diet we will prevent heart disease and obesity.
Nutritional guidelines:
-Spread the calories fairly evenly through the day.
-Provide a dish which is good source of protienin at least two meals of the day.
-Fruit and vegetables should be available each day.
-Incorporate high fibre cereals whenever possible, such as brown rice,
a proportion of wholemeal flour in pastry, wholemeal bread and wholemeal pasta's.
-Use the minimum of salt in cooking.
-Grill rather than fry.
-Let appetite determine the energy - producing food requirements.
Bibliography:
Daniel R. Stevenson & Patricia M. Scobie, Catering for health.
Victor Ceserani, Ronald Kinton and David Foskett. 1995, Practical cookery.
By Emma Hellewell
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