“What you eat, is what you are,” so the saying goes. Eating habits are part of a person’s discipline. But a lot of factors highly influence our discipline such as exercise, economy, and time.

    Of late there has been an increasing consciousness to reevaluate our eating lifestyles and live a healthy, stress-free life. The influence of medical research, which has connected poor diet and lack of exercise with ill health, have prodded many of us to incorporate a daily exercise routine into our lives. Brisk walking, jogging or some simple calisthenics whenever we have the time, adds to our psychological well-being. Rising food prices, too, have shaped our eating patterns. Food prices are increasing so fast and jobs getting more scarce that the value of the food peso has been limited to buying empty-calorie foods (processed foods with little nutritional value).

    Personal time schedules also have an impact on our eating style. Most of us are pretty busy and now and then fall prey to quickie foods and eating in restaurants. However, most of us also recognize the arguments against those compromises – high cost, low quality, and the fact that a simple, well-planned menu actually competes time-wise with going out to a restaurant or heating up a frozen dinner.

    It’s a good idea to incorporate the entire family in restructuring the function of your kitchen. One effective way to teach young people the value and limitation of your food peso is to give them shopping and cooking responsibilities. This is especially important for working parents. If each child is given the responsibility to do the menu planning and shopping for a week at a time, and the preparation of at least one meal a day, chances are that he or she will develop a much better understanding of the family’s food budget.

    There are many notions on what is the best diet to keep a healthy disposition. Some people go without breakfast when we are told that this is the most important meal of the day. For the years that I have tried all kinds of diets, the best I’ve learned that works for me is always a high-protein diet. But for other people, this doesn’t work. I guess that the safest way to address our daily intake is still to take everything in moderation.

    The Food Pyramid

    The best way to keep tab of your diet is to go by servings. Having a taste of everything you like is better than starving on certain days and bingeing on others. Do not deprive yourself of what you like the best but rather take small portions of this. Or another way of doing it is to sacrifice one thing for another. Here is where we can use the famous Food Guide Pyramid. This is just a general guide as to the ideal daily intake of certain foods per classification or group, in hope to maintain a balanced diet. The Pyramid calls for eating a variety of foods to get the nutrients you need and at the same time the right amount of calories to maintain healthy weight. Start with plenty of breads, cereals, pasta, rice, vegetables and fruits. Add 2-3 servings from the milk group and 2-3 servings from the meat group. Remember to go easy on fats, oils, and sweets.

    Food Groups and Servings

    Fats, oils, and sweets are not included in the food groups because they are not part of every diet. Both animal and vegetable protein contain fat and oil, and vegetables and fruits are good sources of natural sugars. While water is not considered a food, it is essential to the digestion and elimination of food for the transportation of nutrients through the body as well as for maintaining body fluids. A reasonable amount of water, other than that found in beverages, should be included in everyone’s daily diet.

    What counts for one serving? The amount of food that counts as one serving follows. Be sure to eat the lowest number of servings from the five major food groups below. You need them for the vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates, and protein they provide. Just try to pick the lowest fat choices from the food groups. We must be flexible though when using the food groups as a guide. Like I mentioned earlier, the amount of nutrition needed varies from person to person. Calorie requirements also vary according to our ages and the energy we expire each day. Tastes, too, must be taken into consideration. If a food is not appealing to you as milk and eggs sometimes are, these foods can be used in cooking or baking instead.

    Milk, Yogurt, and Cheese

1 cup of milk or yogurt, 1-1/2 ounces of natural cheese, 2 ounces of processed cheese

Processed cheeses and other cheese foods are not recommended as rich calcium sources in the milk group, and they are expensive and contain chemical additives. Milk, especially dry milk, and cottage and ricotta cheese are good, inexpensive sources of protein. Yogurt and ice cream are the more expensive sources of protein. Yogurt, though, should be regarded as a digestive aid and as a low-calorie substitute for sour cream.

    Meat, Poultry, Fish, Dry Beans, Eggs, and Nuts

2-3 ounces of cooked lean meat, poultry, or fish
½ cup of cooked dry beans, 1 egg, or 2 tablespoons of peanut butter count as 1 ounce of lean meat

    Meat and meat products, such as bacon, salt pork, and canned and packaged luncheon meat, should be low priorities in a healthy economical diet. They are not only expensive, but high in sodium and chemical additives. Eggs, while a good economical source of protein should be limited because of their high cholesterol content.

    Vegetable

1 cup of raw leafy vegetables, ½ cup of other vegetables, cooked or chopped raw
¾ cup cup of vegetable juice

    Fruit

1 medium apple, banana, orange
½ cup of chopped, cooked, or canned fruit
¾ cup of fruit juice

    Everyone should try to have at least one serving of a good vitamin C source and one of a good vitamin A source every day. It is also suggested that everyone have two or three other servings of vegetables or fruits each day.

    Bread, Cereal, Rice and Pasta

1 slice of bread
1 ounce of ready-to-eat cereal
½ cup of cooked cereal, rice or pasta

    To maintain maximum nutrients from this food group it is suggested that whole-grain bread products be your preference to products made from refined flours.

    I know that it is hard to resist the temptation of all the good food around us. We Filipinos are really a food-loving people. With the rapid growth of the restaurant industry and the wide choices in the market, it is very hard to stay away from all those luscious sauces and pastries. But it won’t hurt to eat healthy, be wise and live long!

    For comments, suggestions and questions, email me at Pattycakes@I-manila.com.ph.