Proteins for the body's building blocks |27 November 2021

Hello faithful followers of this page, who have taken the decision to eat healthy and have been following the construction of ‘Our Healthy Plate’.

For those who have just stumbled upon this page, we're now into the fourth quarter of our balanced plate, having started with the first half for vegetables and fruits, followed by the third quarter last week dedicated to tubers, breadfruit and plantains.

That means that three-quarters of our healthy plate is dedicated to plant-based foods produced by our local farmers, of which some are seasonal.

Wise up on your protein choice

The fourth and final quarter of the plate is a little trickier, as it's often our choices of protein that can give us cause for concern or even alarm.

Ideally we should get most of our daily supply of protein from a combination of fresh fish, poultry, eggs, beans and lentils.

But our gradual slide into a more Westernised diet has made us consume more red meat (e.g.  pork, beef, lamb and goat), and worryingly the highly processed types (e.g. luncheon meat, corned meat, ham and frankfurters). Although enjoyed by many in large quantities there is growing evidence of their adverse health impacts in the long-term with strong links to certain forms of cancer and heart disease.

Many people have grown up loving canned meat such as corned beef, luncheon meat and cocktail sausages, to the point where they will find it difficult to cut them out of their diet altogether.

To these people we advocate caution and advise that they slowly but surely cut down or consume these occasionally.

To the families of young children, we strongly urge that you try as much as possible to leave them out of your regular meals.

Going beyond just meat

We have been blessed with an amazing collection of fish of all colours and flavours, and we should therefore try as much as possible to enjoy them four or five times a week.

We urge caution on the method you choose to prepare the fish as many of us are accustomed to deep-frying it which ends up adding a lot of fat. Think of other healthier ways of cooking your fish with less oil, salt and sauces. Add ginger, garlic, herbs, spices, lemon/ lime and chili to naturally flavour them.

Chicken (preferably without the very fatty skin) would be the best meat of choice, while the others can be reserved occasionally on a Sunday or for special occasions, rather like our grandparents used to do.

Diversifying with plant-based proteins

An often overlooked source of protein, legumes, are not only rich in protein but also several vitamins, minerals, dietary fibre and antioxidants, all of which helps in keeping us healthy. There's currently a whole load of choice of legumes available.

Although, we are very accustomed to the more common red lentils and the green variety (zanberik), there is a growing choice of lentils and beans on the market that is well worth exploring. This includes options like white beans, red kidney beans, chickpeas, black-eyed beans, split peas.and even brown lentils.

They are available either dried or tinned. If choosing dried beans and lentils, please remember that they are best soaked for several hours before cooking (length of time for soaking varies). Tinned beans or lentils on the other hand provides the benefits of convenience and ease of preparation as they have already been soaked and cooked. When choosing tinned varieties however be mindful of how much salt or sugar has been added.

A simple search on a smart phone, which is now present in almost every family, will even show you how to make your own bean sprouts which is also full of nutrients.

Not least is the versatility of legumes since they can be loaded with all kinds of vegetables to make a meal by themselves. Consider having a meat-free day at least once a week whereby a bean or lentil dish is prepared instead to help reduce your meat intake.

Don't forget to keep an eye on our Facebook and Instagram pages where we give you more tips and meal suggestions.

Manz byen!

By: GP in collaboration with Nutrition unit, Health Care Agency

For more information please contact: myhealthyplatesc@gmail.com